Charlotte Fredriksson works as a PhD student at the Department of Geological Sciences at Stockholm University. To prepare for field studies in Alaska, she went to the Abisko Scientific Research Station and attended a field course given by the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat.
The Swedish Polar Research Secretariat supports five research projects within the year-long Arctic Expedition MOSAiC, where a total of nine researchers from Swedish universities participate. Salar Karam, PhD student in Oceanography at the University of Gothenburg, is now preparing to participate in the final phase of the research expedition.
Patric Simões Pereira, Postdoctor at the University of Gothenburg, is now heading back from the international research expedition MOSAiC where he spent six months studying halogenated organic compounds.
For almost 19 weeks, research engineer Adela Dumitrascu participated in the world’s largest polar expedition MOSAiC in the Arctic Ocean. During the expedition, she took samples on snow, ice and water to understand the processes associated with the greenhouse gas halocarbon. Now she is back in Gothenburg to continue with the analysis of the data.
The MOSAiC expedition has faced logistical challenges due to the coronavirus but is soon ready to enter its next phase. John Paul Balmonte, researcher in water ecosystems at Uppsala University and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, is currently in quarantine in Germany and soon ready to start his transit to the German research vessel Polarstern.
From August 1 to September 15, 2020, the Swedish icebreaker Oden was going to participate in the international research expedition Synoptic Arctic Survey. However, Odens participation in the expedition is now postponed due to covid-19. The reason is that the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat has not been able to find a solution to eliminate the risk of possible contagion spread on board.
The melting of the sea ice in the Arctic and the faster melting of Greenland’s ice cover are two prominent environmental changes that could accelerate sea level rise in the future. Researchers are therefore working on a broad front to better understand the mechanisms behind the melting ice and what consequences it will have.
Thawing permafrost may affect the historical remains of the first Swedish Antarctic Expedition, conducted in 1901–1903. Now, the Argentine-Swedish research expedition CHAQ 2020 will collect archaeological data that will, among other things, result in actions that can help preserve this cultural heritage.
