Education Arctic Biology Field Course Michelle S. Svendsen, Klara A . Rask, Søren R. Nielsen, Cecilie K. Hedemand, Sissel L. Fredsgaard, Nanna Devantier, Frederik F. Gai (students); Kirsten S. Christof fersen, Anders Michelsen (teachers). Depar tment of Biology, Universit y of Copenhagen, Denmark. The purpose of the Arc tic Biology Field course is to allow the students to get acquainted with the arc tic environment, which they have learned about during courses at Universit y of Copenhagen or elsewhere, and to provide them with an oppor tunit y to get experience with the process of creating a scientific research projec t from the first idea to the final repor t. The Arc tic Station provides an optimal teaching environment where the students get a genuine understanding of how unique the arc tic ecosystems are by first-hand obser vations and analysis. The Arc tic Biology Field course in 2016 took place from 12th to 22nd July. The overall theme for the course in 2016 was to study responses of arc tic ecosystems to global warming. The students are well prepared as they beforehand have defined their group projec ts, have researched the literature and have prepared / tested methods for sampling and labo rator y analysis. The themes for group projec ts were: 1. The impac t of homothermic springs on arc tic vegetation along the water course that runs in t ypically dr y tundra heath landscapes. The investigation included analyses of abiotic fac tors (available nutrients, soil moisture and organic matter) and biotic fac tors (vegetation coverage and biomass of plants) in specific zones from the stream and into the dr y tundra. 2. The inter-annual grow th rates of a population of landlocked Arc tic charr (Salvelinus alpinus L.) in R øde Elv in relation to changed climatic conditions. This was investigated using otolith analyses for back calculation of fish grow th and the long term climate record obtained by Arc tic Station. 3. The impac t of gall mites on the leaves of t wo arc tic willow species (Salix glauca and Salix arc tophila) in relation to wet and dr y conditions. This was studied experimentally using an ongoing snow fence experiment with four dif ferent treatments (control, warming, snow and snow+warming) where ecophysiological measurements were per formed. CTD measurements from R/V Porsild. Photo Andreas Vieli Fine weather conditions prevailed during our stay and made field work enjoyable. A few common excursions took place to visit Morænesø, Østerlien and Kuanit. Interac tions with other guests at the station and with the t wo station managers, the housekeeper as well as the crew onboard Porsild, where highly appreciated. We wish to thank them all for their splendid work. The findings and conclusions based on the student projec ts are published in the repor t Arc tic Biology Field Course - Qeqer tarsuaq 2016 (ISBN: 978 - 8789143-22- 4). The repor t can be obtained as PDF from Kirsten S. Christof fersen (kchristof fersen@bio.ku.dk) or from the Arc tic Station website Par ticipants in the Arc tic Biology Field Course. 1) Michelle S. Svendsen, 2) Klara A . Rask, 3) Søren R. Nielsen, 4) Cecilie K. Hedemand, 5) Sissel L. Fredsgaard, 6) Nanna Devantier, 7) Frederik F. Gai , 8. Kirsten S. Christof fersen (teacher), 9) Anders Michelsen (teacher) GUX-Aasiaat Field trip to Qerqertarsuaq Teachers: Esben Harding Andersen and Dorit Delmer, GUX-Aasiaat (Nor th Greenlands Senior High School). 12 students from Greenland Field work and teambuilding from 13 September until 16 September 2016 The field work was focused on the research of an arctic ecosystem for biotic and abiotic fac tors. The biotic fac tors were studied by looking to the dif ferent plant t ypes and their densit y of occurrence. Similar to that, the dif ferent plant t ypes and fauna were studied in a lake. The abiotic fac tors were obser ved by measuring temperature, pH -values, light-intensit y, and nutrients in the soils and in the lake. The final results were repor ted in a paper. Students from GUX-Aasiaat (Nor th Greenlands Senior High School) in front of Arc tic Station.. Students from GUX-Aasiaat on a field excursion to R øde Elv. Photo Esben Harding Andersen A n n u a l R e p o r t 2016 23 university of copenhagen facu lt y of sci e nc e A RC T I C STAT I ON Annual Repor t 2016 2 A R C T I C S TAT I O N ARCTIC STATION Annual Report 2015 CONTENTS Chairmans welcome ............................................................. 5 DiskoBasis monitoring ............................................................ 7 Research projects.................................................................. 15 Edu 4 A R C T I C S TAT I O N Chairmans Welcome Professor Bo Elberling Arc tic Station is one of the oldest arc tic field stations and has been impor tant for research at Disko Island and the Disko Bay for more than 10 0 years. The station is an unique site and surrounded by a high diversit y of ecosystems; not the least remar Rød elv Figure 1. New weather station (AWS4) on Skarvefjeld, 240 meter above sea level (69.27282 N, 053.45363W). The map shows the location of places where air temperature are being logged in a transect from sea level (T4) to 830 m asl (T2). Blæsedale n Greeland Disko Island Lyngmarksfjeld 5 DiskoBasis Monitoring 2016 Charlotte Sigsgaard, Casper Tai Christiansen, Mathilde Jammet, Per Juel Hansen, Kirsten S. Christoffersen, Aart Kroon, Thomas Friborg, Birger Ulf Hansen, Bo Elberling DiskoBasis is the ecosystem monitoring program at Arc tic Station. The program has increased the monitori 1040 Wind speed (m s-1) 31 Jan 2 Mar 1 Apr 1 Maj 31 Maj 30 Jun 30 Jul 29 Aug 28 Sep 28 Oct 27 Nov 27 Dec 2016 1000 960 40 10 30 0 20 -10 -20 10 -30 0 16 12 8 4 Wind dir (o) 0 300 200 100 Snow depth (m) 0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 Ground temp (oC) Soil moisture (Vol%) 0 80 10 Figure 7. Precipitation/ rain measured just outside Arctic Station (AWS1). Stacked monthly amounts from May to September are shown Sep from 1991 to 2016. Missing years are due Aug to malfunction of the equipment. Jul 400 350 Precipitation (mm) 300 250 200 Jun 150 May 100 50 0 1991 1993 1995 1 Figure 9. Photos of multisonde location on 15 May, 22 May and 11 June 2016. Massive snow melt and high water levels create turbulence along the cliff on the eastern brink when water is forced around the rock outcrop and causes fluctuations in the water level during the peak runoff periods. Photo Cas Figure 11. The location of the multisonde in Røde Elv (69 15 13N, 53 29 53W, 3 m asl. and ca 460 m from the coast, -see Figure 2). A wire was installed across the river in order to pull the Q-liner from side to side in the crossing. The river is 12 meter wide at this time and measurements were perfo Figure 12.Sampling of lake water 19 February 2016. Photo Kirsten Christoffersen ac terized by fairly harsh conditions above the lake sur face and limited biological ac tivit y below the ice due to darkness. The conditions are much milder in the spring (May in Table 1), snow is melting, ice thicknes 7,8 8 pH 8,2 8,4 8,6 0 50 Depth (meter) 100 Figure 13. Seasonality in pH measured from near surface water to 300 meters depth at the Fast station in Disko Bay 2016 (691114, 533107). 11-May 25-Jun 150 25-Jul 30-Aug 200 01-Oct 24-Oct 250 28-Nov 300 350 decreased to ca 8.0 due to the 14 A R C T I C S TAT I O N Research Projects Effects of dispersed oil droplets and produced water components on growth, development and reproduction in Arctic pelagic copepods (PWC-Arctic) Anders Johny Olsen, Iurgi Imanol Salaverria-Zabalegui, Nor wegian Universit y of Science and Technology (NTNU), Nor way, Ida Beathe Øverjo Sampling tidal algae at Kronprinsens Ejland. Photo Carlos M. Duarte Kelp forests in Greenland functional roles and response to climate change Dor te Krause -Jensen, Aarhus Universit y, Denmark, Carlos M. Duar te, K AUST Saudi-Arabia and Aarhus Universit y af filiation We studied the role of Arcti in Disko Bay Jakob Abermann, A siaq, Greenland Sur vey, Greenland This project focused on assessing the potential of integrating the ecosystem monitoring at Disko Bay in a GEM perspective. We performed pilot studies that narrowed down the scope and used the uniqueness of Arctic Station (AS) both in A sediment filled Rumohr Lot corer is retrieved. Photo Naja Mikkelsen Small Arctic grazers Sandra Craveiro, Antonio Calado, Universit y of Aveiro, Por tugal, Øjvind Moestrup, Depar tment of Biology, Universit y of Copenhagen, Denmark, Andre as Altenburger, Amalia Keck, Nina Lundholm, Natural Histor Sampling of snow on the glacier. Photo Tobias Luthe A n n u a l R e p o r t 2016 19 Ready for field work on the ice in Disko Bay. Photo Nina Lundholm 20 A R C T I C S TAT I O N A n n u a l R e p o r t 2016 21 Photo Kent Pørksen 22 A R C T I C S TAT I O N Education Arctic Biology Field Course Michelle S. Svendsen, Klara A . Rask, Søren R. Nielsen, Cecilie K. Hedemand, Sissel L. Fredsgaard, Nanna Devantier, Frederik F. Gai (students); Kirsten S. Christof fersen, Anders Michelsen (teachers). Depar tment of Biology, Universit y of Copenhagen, Denmark. T GUX-Aasiaat Geography Fieldtrip 2016 Teachers: David N. Penney and Karen Bengtson, GUX-Aasiaat (Nor th Greenlands Senior High School). Par ticipants: Geography students from 2nd class (Natural Sciences), GUX-Aasiaat. In September, 2016, a group of eleven 2nd year Ge ography students and t wo teacher A n n u a l R e p o r t 2016 25 Visits and public outreach GEM Workshop on 9-11 August 2016 at Arctic Station A work shop was held at Arc tic Station about the ongoing monitoring and future plans for Arc tic Station to be a monitoring site under Greenland Ecosystem Monitoring (GEM). All together 16 par ticipants from Universit y o Publications Scientific papers 2016 B l o k , D., Elb e r lin g, B., M i ch e ls e n, A . (2016 ). I ni t ia l s t a g e s of Tun d ra Shr u b L i t te r d e co m p o s i t i o n may b e a cce l e rate d by d e e p e r w inte r sn o w b u t s l o w e d d o w n by summ e r wa r m ing. Eco s y s te ms 28 A R C T I C S TAT I O N Members of the board Professor Bo Elberling (Chairman) Depar tment of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management Phone: + 45 3532 2520 E-mail: be@ign.ku.dk Git te Henrik sen (Secretar y) Facult y of Science Phone: + 45 3532 4256 E-mail: gin@science.ku.dk Professor MSO Kirsten Seestern Christof fers Title Arc tic Station Annual Repor t 2015 Publisher Board of the Arc tic Station, Univer sit y of Copenhagen, Denmark Editor A ar t Kroon and Charlot te Sigsgaard L ayout and graphic s Kent Pørk sen, Depar tment of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management Internet ver sion ark tisk station.ku.dk