“Hypothesis is a great word that has so much in it. A researcher's task is to develop a question, formulate a hypothesis and then test whether it is true or false. It is the most glorious word in science”, says Pauline Snoeijs Leijonmalm, Professor of Marine Ecology at Stockholm University. Soon she will go on her fourth research expedition with the icebreaker Oden, where she will have the role of Chief Scientist.
In 2022, the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD), the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat (SPRS) and Arctic Marine Solutions (AMS) will jointly conduct an expedition of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP), focused on the Arctic Ocean – a key location in global climate change.
Greenland’s melting ice sheet has in recent years contributed with about 26 percent to the global sea-level rise according to published calculations, but how different glaciers are affected by climate change differs. Research from the Ryder Expedition with the icebreaker Oden in 2019, shows that a relatively shallow formation in the seabed in front of one of North Greenland’s largest glaciers, reduces the amount of warmer Atlantic waters that reach the glacier and melt it from below.
Pauline Snoeijs Leijonmalm, Professor of Marine Ecology at Stockholm University, participated in the first leg of five during the polar expedition MOSAiC. A strong memory is when the German research icebreaker RV Polarstern anchored to an ice floe to drift with the pack ice in the Arctic Ocean for a year.
The government recently published Sweden’s strategy for the Arctic region. As one of the eight Arctic states, the government wants to strengthen Sweden’s involvement and contribute to peaceful and sustainable development in the Arctic. One of the priorities in the Arctic strategy is for Sweden to have a leading position in polar research.
Twelve researchers at Stockholm University and the University of Gothenburg will participate in an expedition to the East Siberian Arctic Shelf where they will study greenhouse gas emissions from thawing permafrost, which can accelerate global warming. The expedition is part of the International Siberian Shelf Study (ISSS), a Swedish-Russian collaboration that goes back fifteen years.
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.
