Expedition to Greenland investigates the last remaining multi-year sea ice
On 4 September, Lisa Winberg von Friesen and Rebecca Duncan, both postdoctoral researchers in marine ecology, will set off on a seven-week expedition to northeastern Greenland. The aim is to investigate how marine life is affected as the Arctic gets increasingly warm and the Arctic sea ice is melting.
Linnaeus University’s researchers are part of an international research expedition aboard the German icebreaker RV Polarstern, which sets out to investigate how the rapid warming of the Arctic is affecting the marine ecosystem. Temperatures in the Arctic are rising almost four times faster than the global average, and the amount of sea ice is steadily decreasing — especially the ice that remains all year round.
“The expedition will take us to places such as the Lincoln Sea and the Wandel Sea off the north coast of Greenland. These are some of the last places in the Arctic where thick, multi-year sea ice still remains. This area is our last chance to understand life in and around the multi-year sea ice”, says Lisa Winberg von Friesen.
Contributing to more accurate climate models
Linnaeus University’s researchers will be studying the tiniest phytoplankton in the ocean, known as picophytoplankton. This group of phytoplankton is expected to make up an increasingly large share of the total phytoplankton population as the Arctic Ocean warms. As a result, their role in the ecosystem is becoming ever more important to understand.
“I’ll be investigating how much carbon dioxide picophytoplankton capture through photosynthesis. We know that phytoplankton play a crucial role in binding carbon dioxide and producing oxygen in the oceans, but we still know very little about how much of this is done by picophytoplankton”, says Lisa Winberg von Friesen.
She will also be investigating how many picophytoplankton sink through the water column, and how this helps remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, as well as which organisms feed on picophytoplankton.
“With the help of new DNA-based methods, we can now study these microscopic algae in greater detail. Understanding picophytoplankton is important for several reasons, such as helping to develop more accurate climate models.”
Life in and on the sea ice
On the underside of the sea ice, where it meets the ocean, a wide range of organisms live in close interaction with the ice. Rebecca Duncan researches phytoplankton that live in and on the underside of the ice and serve as an important source of nutrition for other organisms. She will focus on how these algae colonise the ice as it begins to freeze in autumn.
“We hope to find out what species of phytoplankton are present, their nutritional value, how they interact with the water below, and to gain insights into their strategies for colonising the ice. In this way, we hope to better understand the links between sea ice and ocean habitats, how carbon and energy move through the system, and how a changing climate may impact these delicate balances”, says Rebecca Duncan.
Years of analysis ahead
The expedition ends on 23 October, when RV Polarstern returns to Germany. That’s when the extensive analytical work begins. Most of the samples will be examined in Linnaeus University’s laboratories in Kalmar.
“We expect it’ll take several years to go through all the material. The expedition doesn’t end just because we’re back on the mainland”, says Lisa Winberg von Friesen.
More information
Read more about the research on the page “Project: The role of picophytoplankton in the Arctic carbon cycle”.
Follow the expedition on the research vessel RV Polarstern’s website.
Lisa Winberg von Friesen is one of this year’s recipients of a grant from the King Carl XVI Gustaf 50th Anniversary Fund for Science, Technology and Environment.