BIOPOLE is an interdisciplinary NERC programme examining biogeochemical processes and ecosystem function in polar ecosystems. Looking at both polar regions, this 5 year programme will address a fundamental aspect of the Earth System – how nutrients in polar waters drive the global carbon cycle and primary productivity.
In the summer of 2024, a BIOPOLE team travelled to the NERC Arctic Station in Ny-Alesund to continue their Arctic field campaign. Here the team provide an insight into their 2nd Arctic field campaign.
Kate Hendry (BAS), Nathan Callaghan (UKCEH) and project partner Katie Howe (Dauphin Island Sea Lab) headed (back) to Ny-Ålesund in mid-July 2024 for the second instalment of the BIOPOLE Svalbard field campaign, joint with fieldwork for Kate’s NERC Pushing the Frontiers grant Silicon Cycling in Glaciated Environments (SiCLING) .
The overall aim of the BIOPOLE Svalbard campaign was to assess the flux of organic and inorganic nutrients into Kongsfjorden, the glaciated fjord near Ny-Ålesund. In 2023, the BIOPOLE Arctic team sampled a range of glacial and non-glacial rivers and fjord waters, and these samples have been analysed for a whole suite of nutrients, organic components and other elements.
Following last year’s successes, this year the BIOPOLE team wanted to focus on measuring the water flux from the different catchments. For this, Nathan used a method called ‘salt gauging’ (with Kate and Katie watching out for polar bears). Salt gauging involves placing conductivity loggers downstream, before adding a ‘spike’ of salt solution to a river upstream: the loggers can detect the increase in saltiness and their response can be used to determine the water flow rate. We were able to cover all the rivers that were analysed last year, with the exception of those that had dried up.
For the SiCLING project, the team collected river and fjord waters and marine sediments for geochemical analyses, to investigate the interaction between silicon and other nutrients and trace metals in glaciated environments. The samples will be shipped back to the UK and USA for analysis. In addition to using the UK boat for sampling waters, the team were also able to work on the King’s Bay R/V Teisten on two days to sample sediments from the fjord floor.
The BIOPOLE/SiCLING team would like to thank Paul Samways and Iain Rudkin (station managers at the UK NERC Arctic Station), the captains of the R/V Teisten, James Bradley, Bill Orsi, and Juan-Carlos Trejos for their help, as well as everyone from King’s Bay for all their support.
To find out more about BIOPOLE, please visit the BIOPOLE website.
The authors of the article – Kate Hendry from British Antarctic Survey and Nathan Callaghan from UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology