Glaciologer har under en längre tid observerat förändringar av glaciärer på Svalbard, att några minskar i storlek och att vissa växer. Avsmältning med ökade havsnivåer och potentiellt ändrad havscirkulation till följd är ett scenario som berör människor över hela värden. Dessa förändringar kan eventuellt förklaras genom att koppla de meteorologiska förhållandena i området till större cirkulationsförändringar. De meteorologiska förhållandena över Svalbard har simulerats med en regional klimatmodell, WRF (Weather Research Forecasting), för tre domäner med upplösningarna 24 km, 8 km och 2,7 km. Modellen har testats i två versioner, standard-WRF med förvalda processbeskrivningar och WRF med processbeskrivningar anpassade för polärt klimat och har drivits med ERA-Interim data, som är en återanalys av de globala väderförhållandena framtagen av ECMWF. Resultaten från WRF har verifierats mot observationer uppmätta av AWS-stationer (Automatic Weather Station). Följande parametrar ingår i studien: temperatur, vindhastighet, specifik fuktighet, kortvågig in och utstrålning samt långvågig instrålning.  Simulationer med standard-WRF underskattar samtliga strålningsparametrar. En felaktig strålningsbalans leder till att standard-WRF simulerar för låga temperaturer. Att mängden kortvågig och långvågig instrålning är för liten beror förmodligen på att standard-WRF simulerar för stor mängd höga moln och för liten mängd låga moln. För vindhastigheten och den långvågiga instrålningen ökar respektive minskar korrelationen när resultaten från nedskalning från 24 km till 8 km med standard-WRF analyseras. Bäst korrelation för vindsimuleringar fås med standard-WRF i upplösningen 8 km. För temperaturen ger ERA-Interim bättre korrelation mot observationer än simuleringar med standard-WRF. Ett test av polaroptimerade WRF visar att detta utförande av modellen bättre förutsäger strålningsbalansen över glaciärerna och som en följd av detta fås en mer överensstämmande temperaturmodellering. Polaroptimerade WRF simulerar en mindre mängd höga moln och en strörre mängd låga moln jämfört med standard-WRF. Bättre molnmodelleringarna i kombination med ett mer passande schema som beskriver mängden kortvågig strålning ger en förbättrad energibalans. Vindmodelleringar i upplösningen 2,7 km utförda av standard-WRF och polaroptimerade WRF ger minskad korrelation och ökad spridning jämfört med simuleringar i upplösningen 8 km. Denna rapport visar på att polaroptimerade WRF är ett bättre alternativ än standard-WRF när Svalbards meteorologiska parametrar ska simuleras.

The purple sandpipers (Calidris maritima) are the most common waders in the high arctic archipelago of Svalbard, Norway. There they have to cope with a very short summer season and high metabolic costs of migrating far north and breeding in an arctic environment. The food on land is usually scarce, whereas there are rich feeding grounds in the littoral zone, such as in the intertidal zone of river flats. These feeding grounds are though only available to the purple sandpipers during low tide and as long as the estuary is not covered by sea ice. One of these intertidal flats was used as the fieldwork area in this study. To study when the birds are coming to this intertidal flat for feeding, a count study was performed during the entire stay of the purple sandpipers in Svalbard in summer 2010. Point counts were performed at low tide during 118 different days. Additionally, point counts were performed at twenty days during the six hours of the entire low tide period, to study when during the tidal cycle most sandpipers were feeding at the estuary. Most sandpipers were counted at the intertidal flat at the beginning of June with the highest number, 921 individuals, on 8th June. When the tundra was free of snow and the birds could start breeding, numbers where rapidly declining with very few sandpipers left in the estuary in July and the first part of August. From the end of August numbers were increasing again with a second but lower peak in the end of September and beginning of October. By the end of October all sandpipers had left the estuary. The study on the appearance of purple sandpipers at the estuary at the different periods of low tide showed that there were significantly more sandpipers between low tide and half an hour later than at the rest of the low tide period. This might be due to better access to their prey at that time. This knowledge could be used in future studies aiming at recording the maximum numbers. The result of the phenologic study could be included in a long term monitoring to see if the numbers and the timing of purple sandpipers are stable in this area or not: Are the peak numbers differing significantly? Is the timing of the arrival, the stay on the tundra and the timing of leaving the archipelago in the fall changing? Long-term monitoring would be especially interesting in the view of possible influences of the climate change on the purple sandpipers. Rising sea level as a result of the climate change would change the morphology of the estuaries and thereby influence the food resources available for sandpipers.

Ice-ocean interactions are an important area of glaciological research today, in light of evidence that accelerating levels of global mass loss are being driven by submarine melt and calving, as opposed to surface melt (Khazendar et al., 2016). Mass losses at tidewater glaciers are related to a complex set of processes involving atmospheric circulation, ocean circulation, bathymetry, and glaciological processes. The fact that so many processes are involved, as well as a lack of in situ observational data, has made it hard to distinguish long term directional trends from short term natural variability. However, increasing knowledge about these processes is vital for the creation of better estimates of sea level rise and so has societal implications. This thesis uses observational data collected using LoTUS buoys from close to the calving front of Kronebreen, Svalbard, to investigate ice-ocean interactions in this locality. Frontal ablation rates are determined from the use of high resolution ground range detected Sentinel 1 radar images and then analysed in conjunction with meteorological and oceanographic variables, as well as compared to a physically based submarine melt rate.

Photoautotrophic microorganisms, i.e. cyanobacteria and microalgae, are ubiquitous in the glacial ecosystem of the high Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. Their communities play significant roles in the ecosystem, including organic carbon production on the glacier surface and its supply to downstream environments, initiating microbial colonisation after glacier retreat and preparing proglacial substrata for further succession.

This essay analyses the use of media as an instigator of tourism as it creates perceptions of Svalbard in the minds of prospective and former tourists. It explores what these created imaginations about Svalbard as a destination and experience mean for individuals who have been submitted by a curated image in media, made for the profit of the tourism industry. The essay uses accounts from three different informants who all belong to different categories; one has been there several times, another has been there once, and the third not at all. The analysis of their experiences and expected experiences is made through the theoretical framework posed by Noel B. Salazar theory of imaginaries and Arjun Appadurai’s mediascape, ethnoscape, and imaginative worlds and communities. This study means to show that the individual experience is necessarily impacted by their preemptive expectations, which is strongly, almost entirely, influenced by the image and idea of “otherness” which media has projected.

Hur skapar man arkitektur för sociala och kulturella sammanhang på en plats som framstår som en ogästvänlig boplats för människor? Syftet med studien var att få bättre förståelse för relationen mellan natur, kultur, landskap, människa, teknik och miljö i ett av världens nordligaste samhälle, Longyearbyen på Svalbard, vars extrema klimat med rådande istid och långa mörkerperioder framstår som en skrämmande boplats för människor. Finns det plats för arkitektur som är något mer än bara ett konstruktivt skydd mot rovdjur, väder och vind? Målet var att skapa en plats för aktiva och oförpliktade möten; ett Campus Kultur som fungerar som knutpunkt dygnet runt. / How does one create an architectural design for a social and cultural context in a place that appears to be a hostile environment for people? The purpose of my studie was to to get a better understanding of the relation between nature, culture, landscape, people, technical application and environment at the world´s nothernmost town, Longyearbyen on Svalbard, whose extreme climate and months of darkness appear a frightening settlement for people. Is there room for architecture being more then a constructive shield against predators and the elements? My goal was to create a meetingplace for spontaneous activities without obligation; a Cultural campus and a hub around-the-clock.

Border Perversion: Physical, Bodily and Conceptual Borders and the Multimodal Essay Film is an interdisciplinary and multimodal media dissertation based on extensive research, interviews and field notes. This practice-led research investigates alternative border imaginaries through two multimodal essay films Blazing Worlds and Common Work, and a written thesis that examines the shifting nature of borders — conceptual, political and lived experiences — in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. It developed from the question as to why, in hyper globalized world, are so many borders being built? There were fewer than five border walls globally post World War II, and just 12 border walls at the end of the Cold War. Today, 74 border walls exist across the globe, most of them erected in the past two decades, with at least 16 more planned or in construction at the time of writing. Within all power relations, there is the potential for resistance, especially through changing the meaning and value of terms. In this dissertation, I reactivate the concept of perversion as an erring or straying as a source of subversive and creative potential, to unveil alternative border imaginaries within the distinctive legal terrain of the Svalbard archipelago. Through this exploration, I analyze and contribute to unconventional perspectives of borders. This involves not only navigating the complex legal intricacies of the Svalbard archipelago, but also pushing artistic boundaries to transcend the genre of the essay film. By appropriating perversion, I challenge existing conceptual frameworks but also pioneer an innovative approach to understanding artistic expression, proposing the emergence of a new type of essay film, a multimodal essay film, which continues the essay film’s trajectory of subverting dominant artistic structures. The multimodal essay film provides room to explore the complex issues of borders by blurring the boundaries of materialities and methods. I assert that this transgression reanimates the subversive and augments its heterogeneous form through the introduction of objects. I undertook field research in Svalbard as the Svalbard Treaty provides a compelling case study to illustrate alternative border imaginaries which transcends the traditional domestic-international divide. With its unique governance model, and diverse transnational players, the fluid coexistence among actors in Svalbard challenges the dichotomy between “them” and “us”, revealing a more intricate interplay of belonging. My exploration of how identity and belonging operate in Svalbard, in a context detached from conventional life markers, offers a fresh perspective on the evolving nature of borders. In parallel, this thesis has two multimodal essay film realizations, Blazing Worlds and Common Work, both of which were exhibited in Ireland, and a collection of interviews with artists and scholars exploring multimodal essay film. In addition, a symposium titled ‘Encounters with Boundaries’ was hosted by the Slought in Philadelphia in 2022 which explored issues raised in this dissertation. The central focus of this research is exploring the beyond of the essay film and of conventional border frameworks, fostering space for diverse narratives, practices, and imaginings. Through this exploration, it contributes to the decolonization of knowledge by transcending genre boundaries. / Documentary Arts

Global warming leads to increased precipitation in the Arctic, as warmer air can carry more moisture. The consequence is that many arctic glaciers get steeper slopes over time as increased melt at their lower part causes thinning and increased solid precipitation in their upper regions leads to thickening of the glacier. Ice flow of glaciers is strongly controlled by the surface slope, where steeper slopes leads to increased ice flow. An altered flow regime of the glaciers can lead to unpredicted contributions to sea-level changes as more glacier ice is delivered to lower regions and eventually to the sea through calving of melt- runoff. Long-term measurements of ice-flow velocities are therefore crucial to receive a better understanding of how glaciers respond to climate changes in a temporal and spatial scale. This study investigates ice flow velocities measured over a period of 10 years between 2006 and 2015 on Nordenskiöldbreen, Svalbard. The poly-thermal outlet glacier is centrally located on Spitsbergen; the main island of the Svalbard archipelago (74N°,10°E /81N°,35°E). Ice-flow velocities are measured continuously using stand-alone single-frequency GPS receivers attached to 8 metal stakes along the central flow line of Nordenskiöldbreen. The Institute for Marine and Atmospheric research in Utrecht, the Netherlands (IMAU) has developed such GPS units to measure ice-flow velocities at low costs and all year-round. Ice flow velocities at the central-flow line of Nordenskiöldbreen for the period 2006-2016 are estimated to be between 40 and 60 m a-1. Results show that maximum ice flow velocities can reach up to 80 m a-1 and occur mainly in the beginning of July. The highest annual averaged velocity of 53.88 m a-1 was measured during summer 2014. Averaged ice-flow velocities show an increasing trend of about 1.78 m a-1 during summer seasons. Results are further compared with mass balance observations and temperature records to analyze how glacier systems respond to climate changes. / Klimatuppvärmningen bidrar till att glaciärer blir tunnare och smälter snabbare. Ett varmare klimat är också orsaken till att snöfall ökar då varmare luft kan transportera mer fuktighet. Konsekvensen blir att glaciärer i arktiska områden får brantare sluttningar. Brantare sluttningar leder sedan till att glaciärer rör sig snabbare. Om glaciärer plötsligt rör sig snabbare uppstår möjligheten att havsnivån också stiger snabbare. Uppsatsen undersöker is-hastigheten från Nordenskiöldbreen. Nordenskiöldbreen är en glaciär på Spetsbergen, Svalbard som går ut i Adolfbukta innerst Billesjorden. Hastigheten uppmättes med hjälp av 13 GPS-stationer på glaciärens yta, placerade mellan 800 och 1200 meter över havsnivån. GPS-stationerna är utvecklade av Institut för Marin- och Atmosfär-undersökningar i Utrecht, Holland (IMAU) för att mäta glaciärens hastighet året runt till låga kostnader. Sedan 1997 har Institutionen för geovetenskaper vid Uppsala Universitet utfört flera mätningar på Nordenskiöldbreen för att mäta massbalans, isrörelse och miljöförändringar. Massbalans mätningar har visat att glaciären fick brantare sluttningar över den senaste tio-års perioden. Uppsatsen analyserar trenden för isrörelse vid Nordenskiöldbreen över de senaste tio åren. Dessutom är resultanterna jämförda med massbalans-analyser och temperaturmätningar från Svalbard Flygplats. Jämförelsen hjälper att förstå hur glaciärens system reagerar på klimatförändringar. De uppskattade hastighetsresultaten visar att Nordenskiöldbreen rör sig med en medelhastighet av 45-53 meter per år. Isrörelse kan nå upp till 80 meter per år och är främst förekommande under juli månad när temperaturen är hög. Detta producerar då mer smältvatten vilket driver upp vattentrycket vid glaciärens botten och leder till basal glidning.

A firn aquifer is a type of englacial water storage that forms when surface meltwater fills up the pore space in porous firn. If the retention time exceeds one year the feature is regarded as perennial. The melt and accumulation rates as well as the available pore space determine the formation and extent of the firn aquifer. Flow of water within the aquifer caused by gradients in hydraulic potential leads to redistribution of water and consequently to a change in the level of the water table. This thesis focuses on a perennial firn aquifer on the Lomonosovfonna ice field on Svalbard. Spatial and temporal variations in the depth to the water table as well as variations in reflectivity strength of the water table are analysed using data from ground penetrating radar surveys along with MATLAB and ArcGIS software tools. The results show a clear connection between surface topography, steepness of its slopes and depth to the water table. It is also proved that the depth varies between different years. During the four years of study, the water table in the area rose closer to the surface. The results also show that the reflections from the top of the water table are stronger and more frequently detected in areas with gentler water table slopes. A similar correlation is true for the surface topography slope, where a gentler slope shows a stronger reflectivity. The results support the previous research done on Holtedahlfonna’s aquifer on Svalbard as well as aquifers on Greenland. / En firnakvifer är en typ av englacial vattenlagring som formas när smältvatten från en glaciärs yta fyller upp porutrymmen i porös firn. När retentionstiden överskrider ett år betraktas akviferen som flerårig. Smält- och ackumulationshastigheten samt det tillgängliga porutrymmet avgör bildningen och utsträckningen av akviferen. Vattenflödet i akviferen orsakad av gradienter i hydraulisk potential leder till omfördelning av vattnet och därmed till förändringar i vattenytans nivå. Denna uppsats fokuserar på en akvifer på isfältet Lomonosovfonna på Svalbard. De rumsliga och tidsmässiga variationerna i djupet till vattenytan samt de rumsliga variationerna i reflektivitetsstyrkan från vattenytan analyseras med hjälp av georadarmätningar samt MATLAB- och ArcGIS-mjukvaror. Resultaten visar ett tydligt samband mellan yttopografin, dess lutning samt djupet till vattenytan. Dessutom är det bevisat att djupet varierar mellan olika år. Under den fyra år långa undersökningssperioden har vattenytan i mätområdet stigit. Vidare visar resultaten att reflektioner från vattenytan är starkare och mer frekvent observerade i områden där vattenytans lutning är svag. En liknande korrelation gäller också för yttopografin, där svagare lutning ger upphov till en starkare reflektivitet. Resultaten stödjer den tidigare forskningen gjord både på akviferen på Holtedahlfonna på Svalbard och akviferer på Grönland.

In this project, we analyse the ability of two regional climate models to simulate meteorological conditions on Nordenskiöldbreen, a glacier in Svalbard. To do so, regional climate model output is compared with in situ measurements from an automatic weather station. Detailed information about the weather conditions on Nordenskiöldbreen is important for simulating the glacial mass balance in a changing climate. The parameters analysed were the following: temperature, air pressure, relative humidity, precipitation, cloud cover, wind speed and wind direction. The weather station did not measure all parameters, cloud cover was instead estimated through the incoming longwave radiation and temperature, while precipitation was calculated from snow depth. The results show that the models represent certain parameters better than others. Temperature, air pressure and wind speed and direction are found to be simulated with high precision. Poorest agreement is found for precipitation, which appears to be both difficult to simulate and observe. Relative humidity and cloud cover show average agreement with the station. The conclusion of the project is that the estimation of some of the parameters is satisfactory, while others are lacking. None of the models can be determined to have performed significantly better than the other. / I det här projektet analyserades två regionala klimatmodellers förmåga att simulera meteorologiska förhållanden på Nordenskiöldbreen, en glaciär på Svalbard. Detta gjordes genom jämförelser av data från regionala klimatmodeller mot lokala mätningar från en automatisk väderstation. Detaljerad information om väderförhållandena på Nordenskiöldbreen är viktigt för att kunna simulera glaciärens massbalans i ett föränderligt klimat. Parametrarna som jämfördes var temperatur, lufttryck, relativ luftfuktighet, nederbörd, molntäcke samt vindhastighet och vindriktning. Stationen mätte inte alla parametrar, molntäcket uppskattades istället genom inkommande långvågig strålning och temperatur, medan nederbörd beräknades via snödjup. Resultatet visar att modellerna representerar vissa parametrar bättre än andra. Temperatur, lufttryck, vindhastighet och vindriktning simuleras med hög precision. Parametern med lägst samband är nederbörd, somverkar vara svår både att simulera och observera. Relativ luftfuktighet och molntäcke har ett medelmåttigt samband till stationen. Slutsatsen av projektet är att modellernas uppskattning av några parametrar är tillräckligt bra, medan andra är bristfälliga. Ingen av modellerna kan bedömas ha presterat signifikant bättre än den andra.