18.04.2018 Three Legacy members announced lead authors for the sixth IPCC Assessment Report
Three of the 19 Norwegian scientists elected as authors to the sixth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are members of the Nansen Legacy. Sebastian Gerland, sea ice expert at the Norwegian Polar Institute and co-leader of the Nansen Legacy, will be lead author for chapter 2 within IPCC Working Group 1. The working group assesses the physical scientific aspects of the climate system and climate change.
In the same working group, Nansen Legacy board member, Sebastian Mernild, from the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center. Sebastian will be lead author for the Atlas, in which selected environmental data will be collected and interpreted.
The third author is co-leader of the Nansen Legacy board, Nils Chr. Stenseth from the University of Oslo. He will be lead author on chapter 1 within IPCC Working Group 2. Working group 2 will assess the vulnerability of socio-economic and natural systems to climate change, negative and positive consequences of climate change, and options for adapting to it.
The 6th scientific IPCC report, will be published in 2021 and 2022. The scientific IPCC report is the most comprehensive and important basis for international climate policy.
Link for a Norwegian up-date, click HERE.
09.03.2018 160 people at the starting line.
This week 160 researchers, research leaders, representatives from the Norwegian Research Council, stakeholders, industry, management and international cooperation partners were gathered in Tromsø.
This was the marking of the startup of this great multidisciplinary project, the Nansen Legacy (2018–2023), aiming to understand and predict the natural and human influences on ice-covered Barents Sea ecosystem beyond the present ice edge.
“The sea is one of the most important resources we have in Norway. Such was the situation 1000 years ago, it is the situation today and we expect it to continue in the future,”
Project leader, Marit Reigstad
Here research foci’s, task groups of the research activities, presented their expectations, discussed and planned the coming years work.
Topics on how to see the project in a national and international context were discussed. Ways on how to manage and couple data was summoned, and the establishing and running a reference group to insure good dialogue with the potential users of the knowledge generated in the Nansen Legacy project was presented.
“With development and natural resource utilization on the rise in the Arctic, there is a need to bridge new ecosystem understanding with decision tools to achieve sound environmental risk assessment and management. Meeting this challenge requires continuous focus on creating partnerships with industries, governments, NGO’s and other stakeholders to transfer research-based knowledge into environmental best practices,” Akvaplan Niva
Not at least, it was emphasized that research is not only for researchers, discussing further on how to ensure that research-based knowledge is made available to civil society, public authorities, environmental organizations and business actors. How can we talk a mutual language and make the research and legacy sustainable for the future?
“Knowledge is a fundamental element for managing these areas well in the future. The major climate changes occurring in the Arctic, make it very important, but also challenging, to map the situation today and understand what can happen in the future. Already today, the changes are happening faster than we have thought, and it is a sign that we lack knowledge of important processes and links,” project leader Marit Reigstad.
It is definitely some exciting six years lying ahead, where researchers from ten Norwegian research institutions will collaborate in mapping and get better knowledge of physical relationships and ecosystems of the Barents sea, and how this holistic understanding can be communicated and used across sectors.
31.12.2018 Launching a new era of Norwegian polar research.
Leading the way for a new era of Norwegian polar research, Kronprins Haakon arrived at the first Norwegian harbour, Bergen, the 30th of December 2017. As the Norwegian Polar Institute, The Arctic University of Norway (UiT) and Havforskningsinstituttet reports, the ship was displayed at the harbour today.
“Kronprins Haakon is built to perform research under demanding ice conditions. It can go further north and further south compared to other Norwegian research vessels. Kronprins Haakon is equipped with state-of-the-art advanced equipment that will help us make more complex studies. The boat is big and will withstand all possible weather conditions, and we are planning research cruises to both the Arctic and Antarctica,” says the principal of UiT, Anne Husebekk.
This icebreaker will cover both existing and new needs for monitoring and data collection in both ice and open waters. With Kronprins Haakon, Norway will have a fleet of research vessels that make it possible to carry out vital but logistically challenging fieldwork: simultaneous collection of data related to climate and ecosystems throughout the Barents Sea – in both summer and winter. This research vessel owned by the Norwegian Polar Institute and operated by the Institute of Marine Research, will have UiT Norway’s Arctic University as the largest user.
Kronprins Haakon will be the largest and most advanced platform that the Nansen Legacy will operate from.
The vessel is a floating laboratory and a research platform with the best technological equipment and an important addition to the existing fleet of research vessels. It will have capacity of 55 people onboard. Thus, it will contribute largely to the 370 days of ship time planned throughout the duration of the Nansen Legacy project.
The bow hanger accommodates two helicopters and is equipped with complex instrumentation for exploration of marine ecology, morphology and geology of the seabed. The icebreaker, designed by Rolls-Royce, is additionally able to go through an ice thickness of one meter.
“With Kronprins Haakon we are now launching a new era of Norwegian polar research. As the owner of Kronprins Haakon we are proud to be able to manage our nation’s research infrastructure. The new research vessel is a long-awaited asset – and the start of a new era for Norwegian polar research,” says the director of the Norwegian Polar Institute, Ole Arve Misund.
For more information about Kronprins Haakon explore Havforskningsinstituttets page HERE or follow the stern wave of Fram HERE.
21.12.17 Do you want to become a part of the Nansen Legacy group?
A three-year PhD fellowship position in fish genomics/population genomics is available at the Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), in collaboration with UiT the Arctic University of Norway.
Here you have the chance to work interdisciplinary within the assigned sub-project “Climate change and fisheries: Spatial, environmental variables and genomics” – with the overarching goal to implement and use genomic data into population dynamic models. Research questions will focus on how adaptation to the environment shapes the spatiotemporal dispersal and genetic connectivity of key ecosystem fish species in the northern Barents Sea, i.e. the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), the polar cod (Boreogadus saida) and the capelin (Mallotus villosus).
Want to learn more click HERE.
13.12.17 Green light for the Nansen Legacy
The Norwegian Research Council has approved the research application of the Nansen Legacy. After six years of planning, the Nansen Legacy is now ready to take Arctic marine research a long way further in understanding how climate and ecosystems interact in the northern Barents Sea.
We have worked hard for this, and we succeed thanks to a great national team effort from all partner institutions. We will give Norway a good knowledge base and good tools for future management, strengthen cooperation within polar research, and educate a new generation of polar researchers.
-says project manager and professor at UiT Norway’s Arctic University, Marit Reigstad.
This national research project with a total budget of almost NOK 800 million will map the northern Barents Sea. Norway has a great need for knowledge about these areas as the sea ice melts and areas become available. The first research cruise will begin the 19th of July 2018 with the new research vessel Kronprins Haakon.
11.12.17 The first Nansen Legacy research cruise with Kronprins Haakon is set
The first research cruise of the Nansen Legacy with the new Kronprins Haakon is scheduled for departure from Longyearbyen on July 19th. The focus of this trip will be mapping of the water masses and water chemistry along the climate gradient from the central Barents Sea and into the Arctic Ocean, as well as a survey of the seabed to prepare biology and geology investigations on subsequent expeditions. In addition, rigs will be installed with sensors that will provide observations throughout the year.
09.12.17 Arctic Frontiers 2018
The Nansen Legacy is responsible for one of the scientific sessions on the Arctic Frontiers 2018 – The New Arctic in the Global Context – together with several other major new international research initiatives.
Sebastian Gerland is a member of the organisational committee, and Bodil Bluhm will be session chair and leading the discussion of the rapid changes taking place in the Arctic due to global climate change. Thus, how to better understand polar climate and ecosystem processes; how to understand and forecast weather and environmental changes in the Arctic; how these affect global ocean and atmospheric circulation, ecosystems, and what are future societal impacts and requirements both in the Arctic and mid-latitudes.