Anjoner från de tre korta organiska syrorna: acetat, format och MSA är intressanta att mäta då de kan användas för olika sorters miljöstudier. Jonkromatografen vid Institutionen för Geovetenskaper kan för närvarande inte skilja på dessa tre ämnen, därför utvecklades sex nya metoder i detta projekt för att lösa problemet. Metod 5 visade sig vara den bästa, där acetat och format separerades. Resultatet ansågs vara bra, även om MSA inte separerades. Metod 5 testades sedan på ett par naturliga prover; vatten-, snö- och isprover. Alla dessa prover visade en större mängd av format än acetat, som i vissa fall inte ens visades. Resultaten verkade rimliga, inte många av dem stack ut i jämförelse till andra resultat av samma fas. Det ytligaste provet från Lomonosovfonnaglaciären skiljer sig dock ganska mycket i mängden format jämfört med prover från andra djup av denna iskärna, förmodligen på grund av kontamination vid hanteringen av proverna både vid provtagningen och i labbet. MSA kan dock även mätas om man vet mängden acetat och format i provet. Detta görs genom tillsats av kända mängder av MSA till samma prov i efterföljande körningar, för att sedan kunna beräkna koncentrationen av MSA i provet. Problemet med denna metod är att koncentrationen av MSA måste vara tillräckligt hög i kontrast till koncentrationerna av acetat och format för att få tillförlitliga resultat, vilket den inte var i det här projektets analyserade prover. / Anions from three short organic acids: acetate, formate and MSA are interesting to measure since they can be used for different environmental studies. The ion-chromatographer at the Department of Earth Sciences is currently not able to separate these three substances; therefore six new methods were developed in this project to solve this problem. Short organic test 5 ended up to be the best method, where acetate and formate were separated. The result was considered good, even if MSA were not separated. Method 5 was then tested on a couple of natural water, snow and ice samples. All these samples showed a larger amount of formate than of acetate, which in some cases was not even found. The results seemed plausible; not many of them were sticking out compared to others of the same phase. The shallowest sample from the Lomonosovfonna ice cap did however differ quite a lot in amount of formate compared with samples from other depths of this ice core; probably because of contamination which could have occurred at both the ice cap and in the lab during the handling of the samples. MSA can however also be measured if the amount of acetate and formate in the sample is known. This is done by adding known amounts of MSA to the same sample in subsequent runs to then be able to calculate the concentration of MSA in the sample. The problem with the use of this method is that the concentration of MSA needs to be high enough in contrast to acetate and formate in order to get reliable results, which was not the case in the samples measured in this project.

The Arctic—warming at twice the rate of the rest of the planet—is a source of striking imagery of amplified environmental change in our time, and has come to serve as a spatial setting for climate crisis discourse. The recent alterations in the Arctic environment have also been perceived by some observers as an opportunity to expand economic exploitation. Heightened geopolitical interest in the region and its resources, contradicted by calls for the protection of fragile Far North ecosystems, has rendered the Arctic an arena for negotiating human interactions with nature, and for reflecting upon the planetary risks and possibilities associated with the advent and expansion of the Anthropocene—the proposed new epoch in Earth history in which humankind is said to have gained geological agency and become the dominant force over the Earth system. With the Arctic serving as a nexus of crosscutting analytical themes spanning contemporary history (the late twentieth and the early twenty-first century until 2015), this dissertation examines defining characteristics of the Anthropocene and how the concept, which emerged from the Earth system science community, impacts ideas and assumptions in historiography, social sciences and the environmental humanities, including the fields of environmental history, crisis management and security studies, political geography, and science and technology studies (STS). The primary areas of empirical analysis and theoretical investigation encompass constructivist perspectives and temporal conceptions of environmental and climate crisis; the role of science and expertise in performing politics and shaping social discourse; the geopolitical significance of telecoupling—a concept that reflects the interconnectedness of the Anthropocene and supports stakeholder claims across wide spatial scales; and implications of the recent transformation in humankind’s long duration relationship with the natural world. Several dissertation themes were observed in practice at the international science community of Ny-Ålesund on Svalbard, where global change is made visible through a concentration of scientific activity. Ny-Ålesund is furthermore a place of geopolitics, where extra-regional states attempt to enhance their legitimacy as Arctic stakeholders through the performance of scientific research undertakings, participation in governance institutions, and by establishing a physical presence in the Far North. This dissertation concludes that this small and remote community represents an Anthropocene node of global environmental change, Earth system science, emergent global governance, geopolitics, and stakeholder construction in an increasingly telecoupled world. / <p>QC 20151211</p>

The main aim of this thesis is a preparation of the first Czech geographical guide to the arctic area of Spitsbergen (Svalbard). The thesis is based on English and German specialized books as well as on author´s personal experience that he gained during his three months working stay in there. Theoretical part consists of minute description in accordance with practice used for generation of geographical guidebooks. In practical part of the thesis is author´s draft of his own routes tracing, including thein difficulty, photos and specification. Part of it will work sheets for secondary school pupils, presentation and methodical manual for teachers.

Kongsfjordhallet is situated at 79° N on the North coast of Kongsfjorden, Spitsbergen.The landscape shows a large diversity of landforms and sediments and the aim of thisstudy has been to investigate the spatial distribution and temporal differences betweenthese landforms.The most prominent landform is interpreted as a lateral moraine dividing the area fromsoutheast to northwest. This is probably a sign of a standstill during the deglaciation ofan ice-sheet glacier tongue filling the fjord. The valley-glaciers at Kongsfjordhallet haveadvanced after this event and left end moraines on top of the lateral moraine. Largeamounts of meltwater have eroded parts of the Kongsfjordhallet, creating several fossilmeltwater channels that dissect the landscape. Erratic boulders of mainly gneiss type arescattered all over the landscape, as high up as 500 m a.s.l. In addition to the erraticboulders, a lot of allochthonous material is found incorporated in local material,especially as a diamict interpreted as till that covers large parts of Kongsfjordhallet.The till can likely be correlated to one of the diamict units in the cliff sections at theKongsfjordhallet coast. At present, two large ravines drain the area, moving water fromthe glaciers to the ocean and a beach is developing in the Southeast part of the area dueto ocean transgression. Landforms from two glacial events are found, one regional andone local. An episode of high sea-level as well as fluvial and mass-wasting activity afterthe deglaciation is also recorded. The formation of the landforms in the area is believedto be after the Last Glacial Maximum and into the Holocene, but no absolute dates areavailable. / SciencePub

With over 600 articles about terrestrial invertebrates in Svalbard we still lack basic knowledge about pollinator-plant interactions in this part of the high-Arctic. It has never before been investigated how the activity of pollinators varies over a 24-hour timeframe in the high Arctic. Insects in the lower Arctic have been shown to have their peak foraging around noon but as Svalbard experiences midnight sun during the whole summer season pollinators could potentially forage any time during the 24-hour day. In this study pictures were taken every minute over cushions of Silene acaulis, capturing visiting pollinators during 5 days around the beginning of July 2019. Pollinators showed no higher abundance around noon. Instead, no significant difference in the abundance of pollinators was found between the hours of the 24-hour timeframe. No significant connection between the abundance of insects and temperature was found as well as no significant connection between the abundance of insects and wind. The results in this study can contribute to fill the knowledge gap of pollinator-plant interactions in Svalbard and show the need for more research about pollinators temporal dynamics in the high-Arctic.

No description available.

Understanding the formation mechanics of glacial crevasses is crucial in a variety of glacial applications. Besides being a serious safety hazard during field campaigns, crevasses influence calving rates, mass balance, and the hydrological network of glaciers. Therefore, knowledge about their spatial distribution and potential development zones is highly beneficial. In this project, spatial distribution of surface crevasses on the Svalbard archipelago is investigated using a simple crevasse depth model, so called Nye’s zero-stress model, and a set of surface ice velocity data. The model is run for various ice temperatures as it is one of the parameters affecting crevasse development. The crevasse occurrences are also mapped and digitised manually using high resolution remote-sensed images. A special emphasis is put on the Lomonosovfonna ice cap, central Spitsbergen, where the crevasse distribution is studied in detail. The results indicate the greatest density of crevasses in regions of high ice surface velocity and concurrently high strain rates. These areas encompass mainly fast-flowing outlet valley glaciers, while the more stagnant ice caps and ice fields are characterised by little to no crevassing except for their margins. The modelled spatial distribution is concurrent with the observations, particularly for certain ice temperatures, highlighting the importance of accurate ice temperature measurements in modelling and a need of separation of the accumulation and ablation zones. Overall, the Nye’s zero-stress model yields accurate results and proves to be a suitable tool for the task. With room for fine-tuning, it is a promising tool that is easy to incorporate in other models.

Rapid warming in the Arctic is highly impacting the cryosphere in the region, causing melting of the sea ice, retreat of glaciers and reduction in the snow cover. If suffering further temperature increase, the albedo of the region would reduce due to higher absorption of the solar radiation in snow-free areas. The variations in seasonal snow cover in Arctic regions can impact a lot of things including the ecosystem, biodiversity, hydrological cycle, and many other physical processes. Therefore, it is beneficial to have the knowledge of processes determining the snow distribution and to understand the trends and patterns of the seasonal snowcover.In this project, seasonal snow cover trends and patterns have been studied for a 30-year period from 1991 to 2020 using a newly developed reanalysis dataset called Copernicus Arctic Regional Reanalysis (CARRA). A validation of the CARRA data set has been done for the snow depth using point observation data from the Norwegian weather stations and a visual snow cover comparison using Sentinel-2 remote sensing data. Thereafter, interannual variability in day of snow disappearance, day of snow onset, duration of snow-free period, and maximum snow depth have been analysed and these trends are then discussed in detail.The results show that for the most non-glaciated regions in Svalbard, the snow onset is happening later in the winter season while the day of snow disappearance is arriving earlier in the spring. Consequently, the duration of snow-free period has increased in almost all regions of Svalbard except a few sites where the duration of the snow free-period has decreased most likely due to local climatic factors. These factors can be better understood by incorporating meteorological elements like precipitation, air temperature and wind speed. Overall, the CARRA reanalysis dataset is very good in determining snow cover trends in non- glaciated regions of Svalbard and with some updates and modifications, it might be able to determine snowcover for the glaciated regions in future.

No / Human migration is a hallmark of the species and there is significant interest in methods that can determine the past migrations of humans and associated fauna. We present a new method that utilizes collagen oxygen, carbon and nitrogen isotopes from histologically informed samples of cortical bone. The utility of this multi-isotopic, life history approach is demonstrated in migrating Dutch whalers, and both the possibilities and limitations of the method are described.

This is a study where new and old geophysical data together with information found in literature has been integrated to get a better understanding of the geological evolution of Svalbard. The purpose of the study is to acquire and integrate different geophysical data over the Central Spitsbergen Basin (CSB) and across the Billefjorden Fault Zone (BFZ). The integrated data has then been interpreted to identify locations of basins and structural heights. The main goals with this project have been to plan and conduct a field study to acquire magnetic- and gravity data over the study area to constrain basins and major fault zones. Furthermore, the goal was to integrate gravity- and magnetic data together with seismic interpretations and well data, discussing implications of geophysical data and lastly to add new data to the geodata platform Svalbox.  During 10 field days 7 gravity profiles were measured over the CSB and over parts of the BFZ, magnetic data was also collected along most of the profiles. Among these 7 profiles two key profiles were analysed more in detail. Further on Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) data was collected over a glacier to obtain the glacier thickness. The report also includes a small case study analysing the Botneheia Dolerite dyke by measuring the magnetic susceptibility across the dyke. The borehole data was mostly used for the seismic interpretations, since they only penetrate about 2000 m, they do not provide any information about the deeper subsurface. The seismic interpretations varied some depending on who interpreted it so to make an even more qualified analyse, the gravity and magnetic data are suitable complements.  The gravity anomalies proceeded in this report vary in a similar way in comparison to older gravity data provided in the same area. Both Billefjorden Fault Zone (BFZ) and Lomfjorden Fault zone (LFZ) can be identified in the gravity data acquired from the field study. After integrating seismic interpretations and gravity data, the depth from the surface to the basement in CSB is assumed to decrease in a west-east direction. In this report the basement is defined as pre-Devonian rocks. In the eastern part of profile 5, east of Reindalspasset the gravity anomalies are steadily increasing while a seismic interpretation shows a dip of the basement, which could indicate the existence of another layer on top of the basement with a high density. To sum up, integration of several geophysical methods is a good method to identify fault zones and depth to the basement. It is important to interpret all data individually and combined to be able to identify what is causing the anomalies.  Suggestions for further studies is forward modelling and to correct the ortho height measured by the DGPS on top of the glacier of profile 3 by using the collected GPR data. The geophysical data provided in this report can be used for further investigation about CO2 sequestration and geothermal energy. / Denna studie syftar till att bidra till ökad förståelse av geologin på Svalbard genom att integrera nya och gamla geofysiska data tillsammans med information från litteratur. Detta har gjorts genom att samla in och integrera olika geofysiska data över Centrala Spitsbergen (CSB) och Billefjorden sprickzon (BFZ). Den integrerade datan har sedan analyserats för att få ökad förståelse av geologins lagerföljder och lagrens variation. Huvudmålen med detta projekt har varit att planera och utföra en fältstudie för att samla in magnetisk- och gravitationsdata för att identifiera lagerföljder, strukturer och sprickzoner, att integrera den insamlade magnetiska data och gravitationsdata tillsammans med seismiska tolkningar och borrhålsdata. Ytterligare huvudmål är att diskutera innebörden av geofysiska data samt att addera all nya data till geodata-plattformen Svalbox.  Datainsamlingen ute i fält pågick under 10 dagar och resulterade i 7 profiler med gravitationsdata över CSB och delar av BFZ. Av dessa 7 profiler valdes 2 ut som nyckelprofiler för djupare analys. I ett område användes Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) för att mäta tjockleken av glaciären. Rapporten inkluderar även en mindre fallstudie för att undersöka en vertikal diabasgång och dess lutning genom att mäta magnetiska susceptibiliteten över området. Borrhålsdata användes framför allt till att göra de seismiska tolkningarna, eftersom de endast penetrerar ett par tusen meter ger de ingen information om hur berggrunden ser ut längre ner. De seismiska tolkningarna varierar något beroende av vem som gjort tolkningarna så för att göra ännu säkrare tolkningar är gravitationsdata tillsammans med magnetisk data ett bra komplement.  Resultatet av den färdigkorrigerade gravitationsdata visar liknande spatiala variationer som tidigare data i samma område. Både BFZ och Lomfjorden sprickzon (LFZ) kan identifieras i gravitationsdata som samlades in under fältarbetet. Efter att ha integrerat seismiska tolkningar med gravitationsdata kan djupet till urberget i CSB antas minska i en väst-östlig riktning. I den här rapporten är urberget definierat som bergarter äldre än Devon. I den östra delen av profil 5, öster om Reindalspasset visas gravitationsdata som ständigt ökande medan seismiska tolkningar ett ökande avstånd till urberget, detta skulle kunna indikera att det finns ett ytterligare lager med en hög densitet. Sammanfattningsvis är integration av flera olika geofysiska metoder en bra metod för att identifiera sprickzoner och djupet till berggrunden. Det är viktigt att tolka all data både individuellt och tillsammans för att se vad som orsakar anomalierna.  Förslag till fortsatta studier skulle vara att göra prediktionsmodeller baserat på data som har presenterats i rapporten för att estimera lagerföljder och sprickzoner. Ytterligare förslag på fortsatt studie är att korrigera topografi-data tillhörande profil 3 med hjälp av glaciärtjockleken från GPR-data. All geofysisk data i denna rapport kan användas för framtida undersökningar om koldioxidlagring och geotermisk energi.