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 remarkable examples of interac tions bet ween sea and land. This sets the scene for many on- going research projec ts, which you can read about here. The Disko monitoring program was initiated in 1991 funded by the Universit y of Copenhagen. Since 2012, the programme was named the DiskoBasis monitoring program and co -funded by the Danish Ministr y of Energy and Utilities and Climate. The co -founding allowed the program to expand and include now a new climate station, snow and sea ice monitoring, vegetation and lake monitoring as well as marine profiling. These data document marked changes including increasing winter temperatures and a decline in the ex tent of sea ice and snow on land. In this annual repor t, you can read more about the data be ing collec ted as par t of the programme. In 2016, key scientists from the Greenland Ecosystem Monitoring program (GEM) met at Arc tic Station for a work shop for discussing future collaboration within GEM and coordinating applications for a long-term monitoring program. It is the hope that this work shop will kickstar t a more permanent ex ternal financed monitoring program as par t of GEM. Much of the research at the station is multi- disciplinar y by nature which is illustrated by several publication in 2016. A complete list of 2016 papers can be seen on page X X. Highlights from 2016 include: DImperio et al. (2016) repor ting on methane oxidation in contrasting soil t ypes in Blæsedalen near Arc tic Station in Global Change Biology. The study focussed on responses to experimental warming in contrasting soil and landscape t ypes. Methane oxidation rates from bare soil and dr y heath were surprisingly high and when scaled to the entire landscape far more impor tant than methane release from wetlands. In Nature Scientific Repor ts, Markussen et al. (2016) documented how flocculation (par ticle aggregation) involving labile iron may increase horizontal transpor t away from the coastal zone rather than enhance deposition. This was shown by combining field obser vations in Disko Fjord using Porsild and laborator y experiments. Data show how labile iron af fec ts floc sizes, shapes and densities and conse quently yields low settling velocities and ex tended sediment plumes. The study highlights the importance of understanding the flocculation mechanisms when examining fluxes of melt water transpor ted iron in polar region today and in the future. The station is staf fed year-round with a scientific leader, a technical leader and a captain of R / V Porsild. I would like to acknowledge the excellent and hard work from our colleagues in Qeqer tarsuaq. In early 2016, Casper Tai Christiansen took over the position as the scientific leader at the station. He has a background in Arc tic plant ecosystem dynamics and initiated several new projec ts during 2016 including a large scale tea bag field experiment to study vegetation and site -specific turnover of plant litter. Tea bags were used as a prox y for plant material. The projec t is not completed yet. Finally, I thank the board for a fruitful collaboration in 2016 not the least Gitte Henrik sen for being such a qualified and enthusiastic administrator. Enjoy reading Bo Elberling xx Photo Jx x A n n u a l R e p o r t 2016 5 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