Helene Frigstad

Norwegian Institute for Water Research | NIVA

The EuroGOOS Coastal working group examines the entire coastal value chain from coastal observations to services for coastal users. The main objective of the working group is to review the status quo, identify gaps and future steps needed to secure and improve the sustainability of the European coastal service provision. Within this framework, our...

Ecosystems are shaped by physical, chemical, and biological drivers, which affect the quality and quantity of basal energy sources, with impacts that cascade to higher trophic levels. In coastal, shelf, and marine habitats, terrestrial-derived organic matter (ter-OM) can be a key driver of ecosystem structure and function. Climate change is expecte...

Egge E, Deininger A, Bekkby T, Eikrem W, Mengeot C, Frigstad H, Moyano M, Kvile KØ, Baur AK, Tobiesen A, Harvey TE, Saesin P. 2023. Økokyst - DP Norskehavet sør, Årsrapport 2022. NIVA-rapport 7898, Miljødirektoratet rapport 2595. ISBN: 978-82-577-7634-3

Global coastal ecosystems are under accelerating pressure from human activities and climate change. In this study we explore a long-term time series (mostly 1990–2016) from major Norwegian rivers, together with coastal time series from the Norwegian Skagerrak coast. The aims are to: 1) analyse long-term trends in riverine loadings to Skagerrak, cha...

Vegetated coastal and marine habitats in the Nordic region include salt marshes, eelgrass meadows and, in particular, brown macroalgae (kelp forests and rockweed beds). Such habitats contribute to storage of organic carbon (Blue Carbon – BC) and support coastal protection, biodiversity and water quality. Protection and restoration of these habitats...

Overvåkingsprogrammet "Økosystemovervåking i Kystvann – Økokyst" har til hensikt å overvåke miljøtilstanden langs norskekysten i henhold til vannforskriften. Økokyst delprogram Norskehavet Sør dekker kyststrekningen fra Ulsteinvik i sør til Helgeland i nord. Av de 11 vannforekomster som kunne klassifiseres, fikk 1 “svært god” tilstand, 7 «god» tils...

Blue forests, such as rockweed beds and seagrass meadows, are considered important natural sinks for carbon and thereby play a vital role in climate regulation, mitigation and adaptation. Kelp forests grow on rocky bed substrates and have therefore no local sedimentation of produced biomass. Kelp has therefore not yet been considered to contribute...

Nordic blue forests are coastal vegetated habitats, such as kelp forests, eelgrass meadows and rockweed beds, that are important natural sinks for carbon and thereby climate regulation. They also play an important role in climate adaptation. Simultaneously, blue forests are at high risk from climate change and other human impacts, such as eutrophic...

Talk at the 2021 ASLO Aquatic Science Meeting

We have described some of the changes we see in the coastal zone for a general public.

This report presents the main findings of the Nordic Blue Carbon Project (2017–2020) on the areal distribution and carbon budget of blue forests (kelp forests, seagrass meadows and rockweed beds) in the Nordic region. We have identified the main ecosystem effects of climate change and other human pressures on Nordic blue forests, tested the effect...

Declining atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition, through reduction in the direct input of inorganic N, may result in less inorganic N being leached from soils to freshwaters (dissolved inorganic N = DIN). Declining sulphur deposition, through reducing the ionic strength in soil water, increases the solubility and mobility of organic soil compounds an...

This report describes the results of a literature review on increased light attenuation and biological effects in Norwegian waters and comparable global coastal regions. An overview of research projects on increased light attenuationis given.

The monitoring program "Ecosystem Monitoring in Coastal Water - ØKOKYST" aims at monitoring the environmental status in selected areas along the Norwegian coast according to vannforskriften (the Water Framework Directive). Subprogram Norskehavet Sør I includes Ulsteinvik and Geirangerfjorden. All the biological quality elements obtained at least “g...

The monitoring program "Ecosystem Monitoring in Coastal Water - ØKOKYST" aims at monitoring the environmental status in selected areas along the Norwegian coast according to vannforskriften (the Water Framework Directive). Subprogram Skagerrak includes 14 water bodies within the area of outer Oslofjord and the Grenlandfjords. The overall condition...

Coastal ecosystems are of high ecological and socioeconomic importance and are strongly influenced by processes from land, sea, and human activities. In this study, we present physical, chemical, and biological observations over two consecutive years from three study regions along the Norwegian coast that represent a broad latitudinal gradient in c...

Dedicated fieldwork to quantify missing key values in the Nordic carbon cycle, with significance for carbon storage in the Nordic kelp forest.

Organic matter (OM) in aquatic systems is either produced internally (autochthonous OM) or delivered from the terrestrial environment (ter-OM). For eutrophication (or the reverse – oligotrophication), the amount of autochthonous OM plays a key role for coastal ecosystem health. However, the influence of ter-OM on eutrophication or oligotrophication...

World Seas: An Environmental Evaluation, Second Edition, Volume One: Europe, The Americas and West Africa provides a comprehensive review of the environmental condition of the seas of Europe, the Americas and West Africa. Each chapter is written by experts in the field who provide historical overviews in environmental terms, current environmental s...

This is a very short presentation given at NIVAs yearly institute seminar in January 2018.

Poster with an oral introduction at the GEOHAB Conference May, Santa Barbara, California, USA, 7-11. May 2018.

This report represents the annual report of the Blue Carbon project in 2017, and presents preliminary results and progress. It also provides a summary of the workshop "Status of Nordic carbon cycling in blue forests" organized the 16-17 of November 2017.

The Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder counties include municipalities along the Norwegian Skagerrak coast, from Risør in the east to Flekkefjord in the west. Through the “Partnership for blue growth”, the coastal municipalities aim to facilitate blue growth in the region, and there is a need for science-based knowledge on which opportunities the ocean prov...

What is the temporal variability of the elemental stoichiometry of marine microbial communities across ocean regions? To answer this question, we present an analysis of environmental conditions, particulate organic carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus concentrations, and their ratios across 20 time-series (3 – 25 years duration) representing estuarine,...

In this study we present hydrography, biogeochemistry and sediment trap observations between 2003 and 2012 at Porcupine Abyssal Plain (PAP) sustained observatory in the Northeast Atlantic. The time series is valuable as it allows for investigation of the link between surface productivity and deep ocean carbon flux. The region is a perennial sink fo...

In this study we present hydrography, biogeochemistry and sediment trap observations between 2003 and 2012 at Porcupine Abyssal Plain (PAP) sustained observatory in the northeast Atlantic. The time series is valuable as it allows for investigation of the link between surface productivity and deep ocean carbon flux. The region is a perennial sink fo...

This study evaluates long-term mean fluxes of carbon and nutrients to the upper 100 m of the Iceland Sea. The study utilises hydro-chemical data from the Iceland Sea time series station (68.00° N, 12.67° W), for the years between 1993 and 2006. By comparing data of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and nutrients in the surface layer (upper 100 m), a...

We present high-resolution autonomous measurements of carbon dioxide partial pressure p(CO2) taken in situ at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain sustained Observatory (PAP-SO) in the northeast Atlantic (49° N, 16.5° W; water depth of 4850 m) for the period 2010–2012. Measurements of p(CO2) made at 30 m depth on a sensor frame are compared with other auton...

Fluxes of carbon and nutrients to the upper 100 m of the Iceland Sea are evaluated. The study utilises hydro-chemical data from the Iceland Sea time-series station (68.00° N, 12.67° W), for the years between 1993 and 2006. By comparing data of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and nutrients in the surface layer (upper 100 m), and a sub-surface layer...

We present high-resolution autonomous measurements of carbon dioxide partial pressure p(CO2) taken in situ at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain sustained Observatory (PAP-SO) in the northeast Atlantic (49° N, 16.5° W; water depth of 4850 m) for the period 2010–2012. Measurements of p(CO2) made at 30 m depth on a sensor frame are compared with other auton...

Studying more than 3600 observations of particulate organic carbon (POC) and particulate organic nitrogen (PON), we evaluate the applicability of the classic Redfield C:N ratio (6.6) and the recently proposed Sterner ratio (8.3) for the Arctic Ocean and pan-Arctic shelves. The confidence intervals for C:N ranged from 6.43 to 8.82, while the average...

A 20-year time series from the Norwegian Coastal Current was explored to examine the effects of advected nutrient supply from the southern North Sea and of large-scale climate variability on hydrography, nutrients and particulate organic matter (seston), focusing on trends in the January to April period in the upper layers (0-30 m). The interannual...

Seston is suspended particulate organic matter, comprising a mixture of autotrophic, heterotrophic and detrital material. Despite variable proportions of these components, marine seston often exhibit relatively small deviations from the Redfield ratio (C:N:P = 106:16:1). Two time-series from the Norwegian shelf in Skagerrak are used to identify dri...

Seston is suspended particulate organic matter, comprising a mixture of autotrophic, heterotrophic and detrital material. Despite variable proportions of these components, marine seston often exhibits relatively small deviations from the Redfield ratio (C:N:P = 106:16:1). Two time-series from the Norwegian shelf in Skagerrak are used to identify dr...