The Kongsfjorden System - a flagship programme for Ny-Ålesund

• Main Authors: Gabrielsen, Geir Wing, Hop, Haakon, Hübner, Christiane, Kallenborn, Roland, Weslawski, Jan Marcin, Wiencke, Christian
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Norsk Polarinstitutt 2009
• Subjects: Kongsfjord*; Kongsfjorden; Ny Ålesund; Ny-Ålesund; Svalbard
• Online Access: https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/32450/; https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/32450/1/ConcludingDocument_KongsfjordenSystem.pdf; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.41030; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.41030.d001

A Svalbard Science Forum workshop about research on the Kongsfjorden System was held in Ny-Ålesund, 28-31 March 2008. The aim was to discuss focal areas for future research and to initiate the Kongsfjorden System Integrated Research Flagship. Current work and future plans of the individual research groups in Ny-Ålesund related to the Kongsfjorden System were presented. This built the base for identifying knowledge gaps and following future research priorities were identified: There is a great need to combine the atmospheric measurements of long-range pollutants with measurements of the contaminant levels in the biota, to study the feedback mechanisms from the biosphere to the atmosphere and to investigate the interactive effects of rising temperatures and enhanced UV- radiation. Furthermore, knowledge is little about the changes in the pelagic fish community of Kongsfjorden, a monitoring programme for phytoplankton is needed and data on organic carbon mineralization is lacking. Also, the knowledge about water exchange processes in the fjord and small scale turbulences should be improved. Finally, it was suggested to use clams as environmental indicators. Two major infrastructure innovations were suggested, a cabled oceanographic monitoring platform that will allow real-time data retrieval and an integrated comprehensive monitoring station on the central islands within Kongsfjorden to monitor and study the processes on the atmosphere/ocean surface interface. It was also emphasised that a database for long-term data series from the Kongsfjorden System needs to be established and made available for the research community, as well as the metadatabases already established have to be coordinated and further developed. Several initiatives were proposed that will contribute to an integrated approach to better understand the seasonal and annual dynamics of the Kongsfjorden ecosystem in the light of pollutant effects and climate change: The monitoring programme of atmospheric pollution at the Zeppelin Station will be ...