Dirigibile Italia, Ny-Ålesund: projects/activities




Displaying: 1 - 3 of 3
1. Hydrology and water currents in the inner part of Kongsfjord in front of Kongsbreen Glacier

The aim of this project is to study the physical oceanography of the sea in the area where Kongsbreen glacier get in touch with the sea in the inner part of Kongsfjord. In particular the project aims:  to characterise temperature and salinity of water masses in the inner part of Kongsfjord close to Kongsbreen Glacier  to characterise major fresh water outflow from Kongsbreen glaciers to the sea in the inner part of the fiord  to collect time series if seawater currents in-out from the inner part, temperature and salinity patterns for one year from summer 2001 to summer 2002.  to collect a one year time series of sea level changes by an automatic self recording depth gauges deployed close to the base.

Glaciers Kongsfjord Hydrography Water currents Hydrology sea level change salinity Sea ice Climate change Ice Oceanography Arctic temperature Ocean currents Kongsbreen
2. Role of organic and inorganic particles in the mobility of radionuclides in the Kongsfjord-Krossfjord system (MORAK)

The aims of the project are: - to evaluate the fluxes of radionuclides in the water column and their accumulation in the sediment, on a short-time scale; - to determine the C/N and delta13C-delta15N ratios in suspended and sedimentary matter, and test their use as tracers of origin, composition and transformation pathways of organic particles. The selected study area is the Kongsfjord-Krossfjord system, Svalbard, considered as representative test-site for studying processes occurring in Arctic fjords. The focus of the project will be on the processes occurring at the glacier-sea interface, where enhanced lithogenic and biogenic particle fluxes are reported in summer. Specific methods will be used to trace the particle sources. The rate of accumulation-resuspension processes will also be investigated from the inner fjord to the outer continental shelf.

Glaciers Hydrography Climate Sea ice Contaminant transport Radionuclides Oceanography Arctic Sediments Ocean currents
3. Relative importance of different sources of particulate matter in the Kongsfjorden environment

The general objective of this research concerns the quantitative and qualitative study of particulate matter retained in natural (sea-ice and sediment) and artificial (sediment traps) traps in order to determine the main origin (autochtonous and allochtonous) and the relative importance of different fractions of particulate matter and to follow their fate in the environment. To quantify the autochtonous origin of particulate matter, primary production, nutrient uptake, biomass distribution, phytoplankton community structure and fluxes in the first levels of the trophic chain will be investigated. Studies will be conducted in the sea-ice environment and in the water column and compared to the particle fluxes measured both in the water, using sediment traps and in the sediment, by radiometric chronology, in order to estimate the different contribution of these habitats to carbon export to the bottom. The zooplankton will be identified and counted and primary production, nutrient uptake and phytoplankton dynamics will be related to hydrological structure and nutrient availability in the environment. The Kongsfjord results particularly suitable for the main objective of this research as it is influenced by important inputs of both atmospheric (eolic and meteroric) and glacial origin and is characterised by a complex hydrological situation which may promote autochtonous productive processes, thus determining important particulate fluxes.

athmospheric carbon dioxide Biological effects Biology Arctic haze Hydrography inorganic and organic nutrients particulate Sea ice Ice Oceanography Biodiversity Arctic Ice cores Data management Atmosphere Ocean currents phytoplankton sediment radiometric chronology zooplankton