27 research outputs found

    Towards a better use of arctic marine infrastructure: EU-PolarNet, EUROFLEETS2 and ARICE

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    The Polar Regions may seem remote, but the observed rapid changes now affecting both the Arctic and Antarctic regions have resulted in significant consequences for the weather and climate in lower latitudes, including Europe. Environmental changes being observed, particularly in the Arctic, are a clear indication of the impending shifts that will increasingly affect European environment, society and industry. Changes in the Polar Regions present societal challenges, but also economic opportunities for Europe and the world. Science is a vital tool in understanding what is driving the rapid changes being observed at high latitudes. Research is also necessary to make our climate models and forecasting more realistic by identifying and reducing important sources of uncertainty that may impair reliable prediction. However the scale of many of the questions being posed is now recognised as being beyond the capabilities of individual nations and strong international cooperation is needed to overcome these challenges. There is often a need to obtain data from geographically widely separated areas of the Polar Regions and these need complementary observational schemes to be implemented for valid inter-comparisons. Similarly the costs of operating infrastructure in Polar Regions are becoming increasingly challenging and there is a need therefore to cooperate on infrastructure access and shared costs to optimise the support of larger research programmes. The presentation will introduce three European projects: EU-PolarNet, EUROFLEETS2 and ARICE which actively work on improving infrastructure development and access in the Polar Regions in cooperation with international partners. The examples given are from the Arctic Ocean but similar models of transnational access and infrastructure sharing will apply for the Antarctic.Peer Reviewe

    Evaluation of long chain 1,14-alkyl diols in marine sediments as indicators for upwelling and temperature

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    Long chain alkyl diols form a group of lipids occurring widely in marine environments. Recent studies have suggested several palaeoclimatological applications for proxies based on their distributions, but have also revealed uncertainty about their applicability. Here we evaluate the use of long chain 1,14-alkyl diol indices for reconstruction of temperature and upwelling conditions by comparing index values, obtained from a comprehensive set of marine surface sediments, with environmental factors such as sea surface temperature (SST), salinity and nutrient concentration. Previous studies of cultures indicated a strong effect of temperature on the degree of saturation and the chain length distribution of long chain 1,14-alkyl diols in Proboscia spp., quantified as the diol saturation index (DSI) and diol chain length index (DCI), respectively. However, values of these indices for surface sediments showed no relationship with annual mean SST of the overlying water. It remains unknown as to what determines the DSI, although our data suggest that it may be affected by diagenesis, while the relationship between temperature and DCI may be different for different Proboscia species. In addition, contributions from algae other than Proboscia diatoms may affect both indices, although our data provide no direct evidence for additional long chain 1,14-alkyl diol sources. Two other indices using the abundance of 1,14-diols vs. 1,13-diols and C30 1,15-diols have been applied previously as indicators for upwelling intensity at different locations. The geographical distribution of their values supports the use of 1,14 diols vs. 1,13 diols [C28 + C30 1,14-diols]/[(C28 + C30 1,13-diols) + (C28 + C30 1,14-diols)] as a general indicator for high nutrient or upwelling conditions

    European cooperation for Polar Research. Actions and Initiatives within H-2020

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    18th European Research Vessel Operators (ERVO) Meeting, 10-12 May 2016, Rhodes, GreecePeer Reviewe

    Ocean temperature control on ice shelf and glacier extent around the Antarctic Peninsula throughout the Holocene

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    ISAES 2019: XIII International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences, República de Corea, 22-26 jyly, 201
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