Aga Nowak

Norwegian Polar Institute

Our study considers climate change and its influence upon the hydrology and water balance of the glacierized Bayelva watershed in Svalbard. We find that changes are most noticeable within the last 10 years, when winters have become warmer and wetter. The change is most significant during the shoulder months, especially September, when the transitio...

Our long-term study gives a rare insight into meltwater hydrochemistry following the transition of Austre Brøggerbreen from polythermal to cold-based glaciation and its continued retreat.We find that the processes responsible for ion acquisition did not change throughout the period of records but became more productive. Two regimes before and after...

Our novel study examines landscape biogeochemical evolution following deglaciation and permafrost change in Svalbard by looking at the productivity of various micro-catchments existing within one watershed. It also sheds light on how moraine, talus and soil environments contribute to solute export from the entire watershed into the downstream marin...

Iron supplied by glacial weathering results in pronounced hotspots of biological productionin an otherwise iron-limited Southern Ocean Ecosystem. However, glacial iron inputsare thought to be dominated by icebergs. Here we show that surface runoff from threeisland groups of the maritime Antarctic exports more filterable (o0.45 mm) iron(6–81 kg km 2...

Despite scientific interest in the investigation of biogeochemical changes in meltwaters of the Antarctic Peninsula, we still lack an understanding of the seasonal dynamics and release of dissolved and particulate carbon, nutrients, as well as trace metals from Antarctic snowpacks. Harsh conditions, lack of appreciation of the heterogeneity of the...

Moreno-Ibáñez M, Hagen JO, Hübner C, Lihavainen H, Zaborska A (eds) 2021: SESS report 2020, Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System, Longyearbyen

Methane release from beneath lowland permafrost represents an important uncertainty in the Arctic greenhouse gas budget. Our current knowledge is arguably best developed in settings where permafrost is being inundated by rising sea level, which means much of the methane is oxidised in the water column before it reaches the atmosphere. Here we provi...

Longyearbyen is the largest settlement on Svalbard archipelago, with 2400 permanent residents and approximately 150,000 tourists visiting every year. The city annually releases approximately 285,000 m3 of untreated wastewater to the nearby Adventfjorden. To date, the environmental impact of this continuous input has been studied mainly regarding th...

Abstract. Methane release from beneath lowland permafrost represents an important uncertainty in the Arctic greenhouse gas budget. Our current knowledge is arguably best-developed in settings where permafrost is being inundated by rising sea level, which means much of the methane is oxidised in the water column before it reaches the atmosphere. Her...

The processes associated with the release of CH4 and CO2 from sub-permafrost groundwaters are considered through a year-long monitoring investigation at a terrestrial seepage site in West Spitsbergen. The site is an open system pingo thought to be associated with the uplift of a former sea-floor pockmark in response to marked isostatic recovery of...

Snow melt in the Antarctic Peninsula Region has increased significantly in recent decades, leading to greater liquid water availability across a more expansive area. As a consequence, changes in the biological activity within wet Antarctic snow require consideration if we are to better understand terrestrial carbon cycling on Earth's coldest contin...

The Data are presented as an Excel spreadsheet with four tabs. The first two include all the data describing the chemistry and location of each spring (tab 1) and stream (tab 2) sampling site. Data are averaged in the case of multiple samples from single sites. Seasonal changes in daily melt and concentrations of DFe and SSFe in separate samples fr...

The transport of reactive iron (i.e. colloidal and dissolved) by a glacier-fed stream system draining a high relief periglacial landscape in the high Arctic archipelago of Svalbard is described. A negative, non-linear relationship between discharge and iron concentration is found, indicative of increased iron acquisition along baseflow pathways. Si...

FATE is an interdisciplinary study of the High Arctic environment as it responds to deglaciation. It links freshwater hydrology, biogeochemistry, microbiology and oceanography to make a crucial contribution to our understanding of how terrestrial processes influence shallow marine Arctic ecosystems. Therefore, an extensive field and laboratory prog...

http://www.makalu2014.com/science/microbiological-ecology/ http://www.shef.ac.uk/geography/news/death_zone-1.403434 The expedition to Makalu gives a rare opportunity to broaden our very limited knowledge of microbiological ecosystems in one of the most extreme environments on the planet. Such an attempt to push the boundaries of our understanding...

This thesis examines the Bayelva watershed (Svalbard) between 1974 and 2010 in order to investigate its response to climate change. Hydrological changes are revealed that are most significant during the last ten years, when winters have become warmer and wetter. Water balance modelling shows that more rainfall is offsetting any reduction in flow ca...

Longyearbyen is a growing Arctic community whose water supply is directly dependent upon a sensitive and to a large degree, climatically controlled resource: glacial and snow meltwater. We believe that implementation of a new monitoring programme in the Isdammen watershed is essential for future water supply planning due to the pressures imposed by...

In the high Arctic, the biogeochemistry of different solutes is strongly influenced by seasonal snowcover depletion, ground thaw, and longer-term deglaciation. Watershed biogeochemical dynamics are therefore best understood by taking a nested approach using microcatchments representative of the different functional units within the system. This pro...

In the high Arctic, the biogeochemistry of nitrogen is strongly influenced by a seasonal snow cover depletion and longer-term deglaciation. Watershed biogeochemical dynamics are therefore best understood by taking a nested approach using microcatchments that are representative of the different functional units of the system. This project therefore...