THE TEAM
The senior project manager.
The head of the sea system.
The crew: the head chef; the chef; the cabin officer; the sailors and seamen; the stewards; three deck officers.
The scientists:phd students; post docs.
The chemistry crew.
The engineers.
The captain of the vessel.
The senior project manager.
The head of the sea system.
The crew: the head chef; the chef; the cabin officer; the sailors and seamen; the stewards; three deck officers.
The scientists:phd students; post docs.
The chemistry crew.
The engineers.
The captain of the vessel.
RESEARCH VESSEL
KRONPRINS HAAKON
The R.V. Kronprins Haakon was explicitly built for operating in challenging Arctic conditions - it is capable of breaking the ice up to one metre thick - enabling this research vessel to explore further northwards than any other Norwegian research vessel. It has been extensively outfitted to accommodate various scientific pursuits in oceanography, marine biology and geology, with 15 fixed laboratories, refrigerated storerooms, large working desks, a moon pool for sampling and AUV/ROV operations. It is also equipped with acoustic instrumentation in two drop keels.
The R.V. Kronprins Haakon was explicitly built for operating in challenging Arctic conditions - it is capable of breaking the ice up to one metre thick - enabling this research vessel to explore further northwards than any other Norwegian research vessel. It has been extensively outfitted to accommodate various scientific pursuits in oceanography, marine biology and geology, with 15 fixed laboratories, refrigerated storerooms, large working desks, a moon pool for sampling and AUV/ROV operations. It is also equipped with acoustic instrumentation in two drop keels.
The vessel is equipped with state-of-the-art scientific instrumentation. It is capable of year-round operation in ice-covered waters, where it will monitor the environmental state and the climate state of both the Arctic and the Antarctic. The vessel is based in Tromsø and is officially owned by the Norwegian Polar Institute, run and maintained by the Institute of Marine Research, and largely used by UiT.
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ROV -REMOTED OPERATED VEHICLE-Underwater robots especially Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) are designed to perform different tasks in extreme conditions in depth of oceans all over the world. The utilization of such robotic vehicles has gained an increasing importance in many marine activities. As the importance and the complexity of the tasks performed by ROV increase, the need for automatic control schemes that guarantee high performances in motion and positioning has become a basic issue in underwater automation.
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THE ARCTIC OCEAN AND CHANGING GLOBAL CLIMATE
The Arctic is particularly vulnerable to rising temperatures in ocean and atmosphere. Methane hydrate stability may impact many of the interconnected processes - biological, chemical, geological - in the Arctic ocean.
Methane Hydrates are crystalline compounds which are found in marine and permafrost regions world-wide. Hydrate is generally stable in the subsurface under specific temperature and pressure regimes, however as the arctic ocean warms, gas hydrate destabilization can occur.
The Arctic is particularly vulnerable to rising temperatures in ocean and atmosphere. Methane hydrate stability may impact many of the interconnected processes - biological, chemical, geological - in the Arctic ocean.
Methane Hydrates are crystalline compounds which are found in marine and permafrost regions world-wide. Hydrate is generally stable in the subsurface under specific temperature and pressure regimes, however as the arctic ocean warms, gas hydrate destabilization can occur.
- Destabilization of gas hydrate leads to methane release onto the seabed and into the water column.
- There are microbes which live in the seabed and in the water column that can consume methane;
- if methane reaches the atmosphere it acts to warm as a potent greenhouse gas;
- There are microbes which live in the seabed and in the water column that can consume methane;
- if methane reaches the atmosphere it acts to warm as a potent greenhouse gas;
-keeping warmth trapped in the atmosphere and contributing to a warming climate.
It is crucial that we understand how methane affects coupled biological, chemical and geologic processes, especially in the Arctic Ocean.
It is crucial that we understand how methane affects coupled biological, chemical and geologic processes, especially in the Arctic Ocean.
Beneath the cold, dark depths of the Arctic ocean sit vast reserves of methane. These stores rest in a delicate balance, stable as a solid called methane hydrates, at very specific pressures and temperatures. If that balance gets tipped, the methane can get released into the water above and eventually make its way to the atmosphere. In its gaseous form, methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases, warming the Earth about 30 times more efficiently than carbon dioxide. Understanding possible sources of atmospheric methane is critical for accurately predicting future climate change.
Seafloor methane emission is important to consider for modeling spatial estimations of future climate.
Understanding possible sources of atmospheric methane is critical for accurately predicting future climate change.
In the Arctic Ocean today, ice sheets exert pressure on the ground below them. That pressure diffuses all the way to the seafloor, controlling the precarious stability in seafloor sediments. But what happens when the ice sheets melt?
New research indicates that during the last two global periods of sea-ice melt, the decrease in pressure triggered methane release from buried reserves. Their results demonstrate that as Arctic ice, such as the Greenland ice sheet, melts, similar methane release is likely and should be included in climate models.
Understanding possible sources of atmospheric methane is critical for accurately predicting future climate change.
In the Arctic Ocean today, ice sheets exert pressure on the ground below them. That pressure diffuses all the way to the seafloor, controlling the precarious stability in seafloor sediments. But what happens when the ice sheets melt?
New research indicates that during the last two global periods of sea-ice melt, the decrease in pressure triggered methane release from buried reserves. Their results demonstrate that as Arctic ice, such as the Greenland ice sheet, melts, similar methane release is likely and should be included in climate models.
To track past methane release, Dessandier measured isotopes of carbon (carbon molecules with slightly different compositions) in the shells of tiny ocean-dwellers called foraminifera. Because the foraminifera build their shells using ingredients from the water around them, the carbon signal in the shells reflects the chemistry of the ocean while they were alive. After they die, those shells are preserved in seafloor sediments, slowly building a record spanning tens of thousands of years.
To reach that record, Dessandier and the team needed to drill a deep core off the western coast of Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. The team collected two cores:
-a 60-meter reference core, which they used to date and correlate stratigraphy,
-a 22-meter core
Carbon isotopes of microscopic shells in the long core revealed multiple episodes of methane release. Because methane is still seeping from the sediments, Dessandier needed to to make sure the signal wasn't from modern interference. He compared the shells' carbon isotope values to measurements his colleagues made on carbonate minerals that formed outside the shells, after the foraminifera had died, when methane emission was at its most intense.
-a 60-meter reference core, which they used to date and correlate stratigraphy,
-a 22-meter core
Carbon isotopes of microscopic shells in the long core revealed multiple episodes of methane release. Because methane is still seeping from the sediments, Dessandier needed to to make sure the signal wasn't from modern interference. He compared the shells' carbon isotope values to measurements his colleagues made on carbonate minerals that formed outside the shells, after the foraminifera had died, when methane emission was at its most intense.
Journal Reference:
P.-A. Dessandier, J. Knies, A. Plaza-Faverola, C. Labrousse, M. Renoult, G. Panieri. Ice-sheet melt drove methane emissions in the Arctic during the last two interglacials. Geology, 2021; DOI: 10.1130/G48580.1
P.-A. Dessandier, J. Knies, A. Plaza-Faverola, C. Labrousse, M. Renoult, G. Panieri. Ice-sheet melt drove methane emissions in the Arctic during the last two interglacials. Geology, 2021; DOI: 10.1130/G48580.1