Projects/Activities

National Monitoring Programme in Sweden. The purpose is to quantify deposition (mainly of sulphur and nitrogen), and to illustrate effects in the soil, for example possible acidification. The aim of the network is to describe the current situation, regional differences, trends over time, and the effects of acid deposition. The atmospheric deposition of sulphur and nitrogen are the main causes of current acidification of ecosystems. Acidification results in substantial pH reduction in soil, groundwater, lakes and water courses. Deposition is investigated as precipitation studies in open field areas (bulk precipitation) and by throughfall studies in nearby forest stands. For sulphur and chloride, throughfall monitoring is useful for determination of total deposition. In areas, or during periods with low sulphur deposition, internal circulation in vegetation might influence results from throughfall measurements significantly. For nitrogen and base cations (mainly potassium and manganese) canopy interaction is important. Air concentrations of sulphur and nitrogen dioxide, ammonia, and ozone are measured at some locations. The observations made are: (i) air chemistry (SO2, NO2, NH3, O3); (ii) soil water chemistry (pH, Alk, SO4-S, Cl, NO3-N, NH4-N, Ca, Mg, Na, K, Mn, Fe, ooAl, oAl, Al-tot, total organic carbon); (iii) deposition in open field (precipitation, H+, SO4-S, Cl, NO3-N, NH4-N, Ca, Mg, Na, K, Mn); (iv) deposition in forest (throughfall, H+, SO4-S, Cl, NO3-N, NH4-N, Ca, Mg, Na, K, Mn). For nitrogen and base cations (mainly potassium and manganese) canopy interaction is important. Soil solution chemistry in the forest stands is used as indicator of soil conditions.

This project has been divided into two new projects: The Swedish Forest Soil Inventory and the Swedish National Forest Inventory.

The Swedish National Forest Inventory has the task of describing the state and changes in Sweden's forests. The inventory gathers basic information on forests, soils and vegetation. It includes most aspects concerning soils, for example: soil types, soil chemistry including organic matter, water conditions and content of stones and boulders. Acidification, nitrogen deposition and the contribution by soils to climate change are some of the current issues dealt with. Regularly reported variables are: forest state, injuries, and growth, logging operations, new forest stand, and environmental assessment. Invented variables on permanent sampling plots include: position in the landscape, field vegetation, site conditions, soil sampling, assesment of soil characteristics, chemical analysis of soil in O-, B-, BC- and C-horizons.

This project was previously a part of the project: National Survey of Forest Soils and Vegetation.

The Swedish Forest Soil Inventory (SFSI) is part of the national environmental monitoring programme Forests and collects information about soil conditions and chemistry from around 23 500 permanent plots throughout Sweden. One tenth of these sampling plots are re-visited each year. The inventory is commissioned by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and is carried out by the Department of Soil and Environment at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).

The inventory gathers basic information on soils and vegetation on predominantly forest land, but also semi-natural grassland and wetland below the alpine forest limit. It includes most aspects concerning soils, for example: soil types, soil chemistry including organic matter, water conditions and content of stones and boulders. Acidification, nitrogen deposition and the contribution by soils to climate change are some of the current issues dealt with. There is a close collaboration between the SFSI and the National Forest Inventory (NFI), and the inventoried plots are a subset of the NFI plots. .

Geochemical mapping project based on multimaterial and -elemental method covering the NW Russia and adjacent areas of Finland and Norway. NW-Russia is of strategic importance not only for Europe but also for the sosio-economic development of the whole Russia for its richness in natural resources. Their use must be based on environmentally acceptable principles. In addition, within the area exist numerous industrial centres whose environmental impacts are unknown. The information produced by the project is significant for the future development of the area and remedial measures of the environment. The project lead by the applicant, will be carried out in 1999-2003 in cooperation with Russian and Norwegian partners.

Monitoring of groundwater quality (geochemistry)

In order to estimate the effect of rising global temperatures on organic carbon (OC) stocks in the temperature-sensitivity Arctic environment, our project aims at investigating the transfer of terrestrial OC from permafrost soils to the Arctic Ocean. Detailed compositional analyses of bulk soil and sediments along a transport trajectory combined with compound-specific isotopic (13C and 14C) analysis of selected lipid biomarkers will be used to study alteration processes of organic matter occurring in the soil and its during transport. Sub-goals include to a) identify suitable biomarkers for soil organic carbon in permafrost soils, b) determine residence times of selected biomarkers in permafrost soils, fluvial and marine sediments, and c) quantify carbon transfer from source (soil) to sink (marine sediment) and its timescale.

The ZERO database contains all validated data from the Zackenberg Ecological Research Operations Basic Programmes (ClimateBasis, GeoBasis, BioBasis and MarinBasis). The purpose of the project is to run and update the database with new validated data after each succesfull field season. Data will be available for the public through the Zackenberg homepage linking to the NERI database. The yearly update is dependent on that each Basis programme delivers validated data in the proscribed format.

Sea ice is a dominant feature of marine ecosystems in the Arctic. Its presence directly or indirectly impacts Arctic marine ecosystems, especially on the shelves where benthic and pelagic systems are extensively coupled. If the extent and thickness of sea ice continue to decline, we predict a shift in the type of algal material reaching the benthos (from ice algae to phytoplankton), which will potentially impact the food requirements of the benthos. We have several pieces of evidence showing that both types of ice algae (below-ice ice algae dominated by Melosira arctica and within-ice ice algae dominated by Nitzchia frigida) presently reach the benthos in significant quantities. What we don’t know, and what we propose to address is: “What is the digestibility of ice algae and phytoplankton-derived organic matter by the Arctic macrobenthos?” From the perspective of a macrofaunal organism, digestibility includes three separate components: 1) selection (is encountered organic material ingested or rejected?); 2) absorption (is ingested organic material absorbed during passage through the gut, or does it get egested in the feces?); and 3) assimilation (is absorbed organic material assimilated into biomass?). We propose a series of hypotheses to guide our assessment of digestibility: H1: There is no difference in the quality of ice algae and phytoplankton as food for benthic organisms. H1i: There is no difference in the long-term assimilation of ice algae and phytoplankton by benthic organisms of different trophic groups (suspension feeders, deposit feeders, omnivores). H1ii: There is no difference in the short-term absorption efficiency among different trophic groups feeding on phytoplankton and ice algae. H2: The response of benthic organisms to ice algae and phytoplankton as food sources is the same when assessed on a Pan-Arctic scale. Assessment of long-term assimilation of the various types of algae (within-ice ice algae; below-ice ice algae; and phytoplankton) will be conducted by determining lipid biomarkers and their isotopic ratios, and by determining CHN and protein signatures of organisms collected during all aspects of the work (summer ’02; spring ’03; fall ’03; and summer ’04 in both Norway and Kotzebue, Alaska). Assessment of short-term absorption will first use the ash-ratio method in a whole core delivery experiment. Following the whole-core experiments, dominant taxa from each trophic group will be identified and used in a comparison of 1) absorption efficiencies as calculated by the ash-ratio method, and 2) carbon retention efficiencies as calculated using a pulse-chase radiotracer approach. Finally, we will repeat the dominant taxa absorption efficiency experiments in both Svalbard, Norway at the Ny Ålesund lab and in Kotzebue Sound, Alaska.

One of the major benefits of performing measurements at Ny-Ålesund is the availability of a monitoring station on Mount Zeppelin, 474m asl. Given the typical height of the Arctic inversion layer during the envisaged measurement period, it will be possible to continuously monitor mercury and particulate in the free troposphere at the same time as performing ground level monitoring. The simultaneous measurements above and below the boundary layer should provide evidence for the mode of elemental Hg replenishment, whether it is from due to exchange with the free troposphere, or transport occurring at sea level. The proposed collaboration, by collecting data from two strategically placed Arctic stations, in the paths of different air masses and data from above the Arctic inversion layer would provide the most comprehensive set of Arctic mercury measurements performed to date.

To be completed.

This project will construct detailed phosphorus budgets for polar catchments occupied by glaciers and freshwater systems undergoing rapid response to climate warming. These are Midre Lovenbreen, Svalbard; Jebsen Creek, Signy Island (maritime Antarctic) and Storglaciaren, northern Sweden. The relationship between meltwater production, pathway and phosphorus liberation from glacial sediments will be examined closely. Emphasis will be given to phosphorus sorption dynamics in turbid glacial streams and their receiving waters (fjords and lakes).

The major goal of the process study between April 15 and May 15, 2003 is to obtain quantified information on reaction path-ways, products and net deposition of mercury during Arctic sunrise.

Project Description: - Landform mapping of the periglacial and glacial structures using remote sensing / aerial photography and field observation - Genetic studies of ground ice using geochemical and stable isotope techniques - Studies of microbial life in extreme periglacial environment

1. To quantify benthic community parameters for all size classes of fauna across the Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ) 2. To make a detailed assessment across the OMZ of a) sediment accumulation, mixing and irrigation rates and depths and b) environmental factors acting as controls on faunal activity 3. To characterise solid phase and porewater geochemistry of sediments across the OMZ 4. To assess a) faunal digestive Organic Matter (OM) alteration, b) the relative importance of chemo- and photosynthetic food sources, and c) benthic food web structure, across the OMZ 5. To determine porewater profiles and benthic solute fluxes in situ, and to assess faunal OM assimilation and trophic relationships by monitoring tracers during shipboard and in situ incubations 6. To obtain high resolution porewater profiles of oxygen and other key analytes, free of pressure and other effects potentially introduced by core recovery 7. To determine in situ oxygen consumption rates and benthic fluxes 8. To use labelled tracers to assess mixing and irrigation rates, faunal OM assimilation, and size-selective ingestion and mixing 9.To determine sediment denitrification and sulfate reduction rates and their contributions to OM remineralisation

1. To generate high-resolution quantitative palaeoceanographic/palaeoclimatic data from NE Atlantic coastal/shelf sites for the last 2000 years using a multidisciplinary approach 2. To develop novel palaeoclimatic tools for shallow marine settings by (i) calibrating the proxy data against instrumental datasets, (ii) contributing to transfer function development, and (iii) then to extrapolate back beyond the timescale of the instrumental data using the palaeoclimate record 3. To investigate the link between late Holocene climate variability detected in the shelf/coastal regions of western Europe and the variability of the oceanic heat flux associated with the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation, and to compare such variability with existing high-resolution terrestrial proxies to help determine forcing mechanisms behind such climate change 4. To lay a foundation for the identification of hazards and resources linked with, or forced by, such climate change.

The project aims to develop Molecular Imprinted Polymer (MIP)sensors into practical tools for the monitoring of a number of pollutants listed in the EU Water Framework Directive. (Further details in commercial confidence)

Large-scale changes in surface ocean chemical equilibira and elemental cycling have occurred in the fremework of "global change" and are expected to continue and intensify in the future. The progressive increase in atmospheric CO2 affects the marinebiospehere in varous ways: indeirectly, for instance, through rising mean global temperatures causing incereased surface ocean stratification and hence mixed layer insulation, and directly through changes in seawater carbonate chemistry. In lab experimetns we recently observed that CO2-related changes in seawater carbonate chemistry strongly affect calcification of marine coccolithophorids. A rise in atmospheric CO2 may slow down biogenic calcification in the surface ocean with likeley effects on the vertical transport of calcium carbonate to the deep sea. The lab findings will be tested with natural phytoplankton in semi-controlled conditions in a series of floating mesocosms.

Four-week mesocosm study with the following objectives: - to identify environmental and biotic factors in control of the production, chemistry and fate of exportable DOM in a coastal environment - to follow how DIN and DIP are transformed to DON and DOP and to measure their mineralisation - to analyse the optical properties of new DOM and to measure how radiation might change the optical properties - to validate current community-nutrient models for the marine system with particular emphasis on the mechanisms regulating shifts between carbon- and mineral nutrient limitation of bacterial growth rates, - to produce experimental data for further development and modification of the plankton community-nutrient model and – to incorporate DON and DOP into the present community-nutrient model.