The full list of projects contains the entire database hosted on this portal, across the available directories. The projects and activities (across all directories/catalogs) are also available by country of origin, by geographical region, or by directory.
Monitoring of the sea-level
Monitoring and forecast of the sea and atmosphere state in the coastal area, support of safety of navigation and marine activities. Main gaps: Initial data before 1977 have not been digitized.
This station is one of many international stations in Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard. Traditionally research has focussed on the ecology of barnacle geese. The research now includes monitoring of plant production, vegetation change, insect phenology, arctic terns, snowbuntings, barnacle geese, reindeer and arctic foxes. Regular guests are Dutch institutions for marine research like IMARES and NIOZ and researchers from NIOO and VU.
The main objective is to study adaptations to climate warming and understanding dynamics of animal and plant populations.
The main objective is resource monitoring of Greenland Halibut.
This mission of the North Slope Science Initiative is to improve the regulatory understanding of terrestrial, aquatic and marine ecosystems for consideration in the context of resource development activities and climate change. The vision of the North Slope Science Initiative is to identify those data and information needs management agencies and governments will need in the future to develope management scenarios using the best information and mitigation to conserve the environments of the North Slope
Zooplankton make essential links between producers and predators in marine ecosystems, so mediating in the CO2 exchange between atmosphere and ocean They can be indicators of climate variability, and changes in zooplankton species distribution and abundance may have cascading effects on food webs. West Spitsbergen Current is the main pathway of transport of Atlantic waters and biota into the Arctic Ocean and the Arctic shelf seas. West Spitsbergen Shelf coastal and fjordic waters, therefore, are natural experimental areas to study mechanisms by which the Atlantic and Arctic marine ecosystem interact, and to observe environmental changes caused by variability in climate. The main objectives of the zooplankton monitoring are: a) to study patterns and variability in composition and abundance in zooplankton of the West Spitsbergen Current and the West Spitsbergen fjords and coastal waters; b) to find out environmental factors responsible for the observed patterns and variability in zooplankton, and to understand possible relations between zooplankton and their environment on different space and time scales; c) to observe and monitor the variability in zooplankton in relation to local and global climate changes.
The Institute of Freshwater Fisheries (Veidimalastofnun) is a Governmental institution managing freshwater biota and freshwater fisheries in Iceland. Its principal tasks are research of biota in rivers and lakes, research on freshwater fish stocks supervision and guidance to river and lake fisheries associations concerning sustainable fisheries. Among the Institute of Freshwater Fisheries main tasks is research and consultation concerning impact assessment of projects or structures affecting rivers and lakes, creation and management of data banks on rivers and lakes, their biota and fisheries. Main gaps: Not specified Network type: ‐ Thematic observations ‐ Field stations
MRI's activities are organized into three main sections: Environment Section, Resources Section and Fisheries Advisory Section. Marine Environment Section: A large part of the sections work deals with environmental conditions (nutrients, temperature, salinity) in the sea, marine geology, and the ecology of algae, zooplankton, fish larvae, fish juveniles, and benthos. Amongst the larger projects undertaken within the Environment Section are investigations on currents using satellite monitored drifters and other modern technology, assessment of primary productivity, secondary productivity, overwintering and spring spawning of zooplankton, and studies on spawning of the most important exploited fish stocks. Marine Resources Section: Investigations are undertaken on the exploited stocks of fish, crustaceans, mollusks and marine mammals. The major part of the work involves estimating stock sizes and the total allowable catch (TAC) for each stock. Examples of some large projects within the Marine Resources Section are annual ground fish surveys covering the shelf area around Iceland and surveys for assessing inshore and deep‐water shrimp, lobster, and scallop stocks. The pelagic stocks of capelin and herring are also monitored annually in extensive research surveys using acoustic methods. Further, in recent years an extensive program concentrating on multi‐species interactions of exploited stocks in Icelandic waters has also been carried out. A designated project for improving understanding of the dynamics of the ecosystem deep north of Iceland has been conducted in recent years. The Fisheries Advisory Section: The Fisheries Advisory Section scrutinizes stock assessments and prepares the formal advice on TAC´s and sustainable fishing strategies for the government. Supporting departments: Important supporting departments are, the Electronic Department and the Fisheries Library. The Electronic Department supervises installation, testing and maintenance of research instruments. The Fisheries Library collects books and periodicals in all fields of marine sciences and publishes the MRI report series. 20 SAON: Inventory on Monitoring Networks Iceland Main gaps: Not specified Network type: ‐ Thematic observations ‐ Field stations ‐ Community based observations
The Icelandic Institute of Natural History dates back to 1889 when the Icelandic Natural History Society established a Natural History Museum in Reykjavik. Now owned and run by the State, the Institute conducts basic and applied research on the nature of Iceland in the fields of botany, geology and zoology. The Institute maintains scientific specimen collections and holds data banks on the Icelandic nature, i.e. all animal and plant species, rocks and minerals, it assembles literature on the natural history of Iceland, operates the Icelandic Bird‐Ringing Scheme, prepares distribution, vegetation, and geological maps, conducts research in connection with environmental impact assessments and sustainability, advises on sustainable use of natural resources and land use, and monitors and assesses the conservation value of species, habitats and ecosystems. Member/connected to global network: IINH is the national representative in the Bern Convention on the conservation of European wildlife and natural habitats and participates in the several working groups of the Convention in areas that are relevant to Iceland. IINH is the national representative in The Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) and has had a representative on the board of CAFF from the beginning. IINH participates in expert groups on marine birds, vegetation, sanctuaries, and biodiversity monitoring in the Arctic within the CAFF. IINH is further participating in the work of a Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). IINH is the national representative in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and participates in The North European and Baltic Network on Invasive Alien Species (NOBANIS) on behalf of Iceland. Type of network: ‐ Species monitoring ‐ Area monitoring, incl. protected areas ‐ Thematic observations ‐ Community based observations ‐ Endangered species Main gaps: Not specified Network type: ‐ Species monitoring ‐ Area monitoring, incl. protected areas ‐ Thematic observations ‐ Community based observations ‐ Endangered species
The main purpose of IMO is to contribute towards increased security and efficiency in society by: • Monitoring, analyzing, interpreting, informing, giving advice and counsel, providing warnings and forecasts and where possible, predicting natural processes and natural hazards; • issuing public and aviation alerts about impending natural hazards, such as volcanic ash, extreme weather, avalanching, landslides and flooding; • conducting research on the physics of air, land and sea, specifically in the fields of hydrology, glaciology, climatology, seismology and volcanology; • maintaining high quality service and efficiency in providing information in the interest of economy, of security affairs, of sustainable usage of natural resources and with regard to other needs of the public; • ensuring the accumulation and preservation of data and knowledge regarding the long-term development of natural processes such as climate, glacier changes, crustal movements and other environmental matters that fall under IMO‘s responsibility. IMO has a long-term advisory role with the Icelandic Civil Defense and issues public alerts about impending natural hazards. The institute participates in international weather and aviation alert systems, such as London Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), the Icelandic Aviation Oceanic Area Control Center (OAC Reykjavík) and the European alarm system for extreme weather, Meteoalarm. Network type: Thematic observations in 6 different fields
The Arctic Station is located on the south coast of the Disko Island in central west Greenland. It is thus facing the Disko Bay and is characterized by an arctic, marine climate. There are 3 building comprising guest facilities, staff accomodation, laboratory and library that are located in a nature sanctuary, approximately 1 km west of a small town, Qeqertarsuaq (formerly Godhavn), with ca. 1100 inhabitants. Within the town community is located all necessary service facilities, incl. several shops, bank, postoffice, church and a hospital. The station offers a 'state of the art' platform for year-round environmental research. The Arctic Station maintains a stat-of-the-art automatic weather station located in the immediate vicinity of the Arctic Station. The datalogging at Arctic Station (every half hour) comprises: air temperatur, humidity, incoming and outgoing radiation, wind speed and direction, rainfall, ground temperatures (5, 60 and 150 cm below surface) and temperature in solid rock 2 metre below surface. In addition to the above the station also maintains a freshwater, a marine and a terrestrial monitoring program. The whole moitoring program is call DiskoBasic.
CBMP is a cornerstone monitoring program of Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF). It is a international network of scientists, government agencies, Indigenous organizations and conservation groups working together to harmonize and integrate efforts to monitor the Arctic's living resources. (... more to be edited from the co-lead countries)
Monitor the levels of radionuclides (137Cs and 210Po) in selected fish and seafood species in the Norwegian and Barents Sea.
Anthropogenic 129I discharged from European reprocessing plants has widely dispersed in the Nordic waters including the Arctic. Due to the high solubility and long residence time of iodine in seawater, anthropogenic 129I has become an ideal oceanographic tracer for investigating transport pathways and the exchange of water masses.
Monitoring of ice conditions: providing of collection, analysis, archiving and presentation of information obtained from different information sources The continuous monitoring system is based on information from two main groups. The first one is immediate direct observation of the state of ice cover. The information sources are Roshydromet’s permanent polar stations, automatic weather stations and buoys, satellite images in different wave ranges through international hydrometeorological information exchange channels under the auspices of WMO (ETSI) and Ice Services of different countries. Occasional observations by marine expeditions and “North Pole” drifting stations also belong of this group of observation. These are so-called initial or raw data to be further processed, accumulated and archived. As a rule, this information is interesting only to specialists and is not presented without special processing. The second one is processed and summarized information, i.e. diagnostic, analytical and prognostic information. Diagnostic information is a result of processing of initial or raw information. These are adapted and geographically bound satellite images, ice maps, diagnosis of the current state in the form of descriptions and different bulletins. Analytical information is a consolidation of heterogeneous initial and diagnostic information on the ice cover state in the form of overviews and bulletins for different periods of time and different components of ice conditions. Prognostic information is a forecast of different lead times for different phenomena and characteristics of ice conditions. Actually ESIMO AARI web-portal presents a series of group 2 information products having the best informativity and ready for the direct use by customers.
Multidisciplinary investigations at the LTER (Long-Term Ecological Research) observatory HAUSGARTEN are carried out at a total of 21 permanent sampling sites in water depths ranging between 250 and 5,500 m. From the outset, repeated sampling in the water column and at the deep seafloor during regular expeditions in summer months was complemented by continuous year-round sampling and sensing using autonomous instruments in anchored devices (i.e., moorings and free-falling systems). The central HAUSGARTEN station at 2,500 m water depth in the eastern Fram Strait serves as an experimental area for unique biological in situ experiments at the seafloor, simulating various scenarios in changing environmental settings. Time-series studies at the HAUSGARTEN observatory, covering almost all compartments of the marine ecosystem, provide insights into processes and dynamics within an arctic marine ecosystem and act as a baseline for further investigations of ongoing changes in the Fram Strait. Long-term observations at HAUSGARTEN will significantly contribute to the global community’s efforts to understand variations in ecosystem structure and functioning on seasonal to decadal time-scales in an overall warming Arctic and will allow for improved future predictions under different climate scenarios.
The Northern Contaminants Program aims to reduce and where possible eliminate long-range contaminants from the Arctic Environment while providing Northerners with the information they need to make informed dietary choices, particularly concerning traditional/country food. To achieve these objectives the NCP conducts research and monitoring related to contaminants in the Arctic environment and people. Monitoring efforts focus on regular (annual) assessment of contaminant levels in a range of media, including air, biota and humans. Environmental research is conducted into the pathways, processes and effects of contaminants on Arctic ecosystems while human health research focuses on assessing contaminant exposure, toxicity research, epidemiological (cohort) studies, and risk-benefit assessment and communications. Main gaps: Contaminant measurements in Arctic seawater, toxicity data specific to Arctic species. Network type: - Thematical observations: Contaminants levels and relevant ancilliary parameters - Field stations: Atmospheric observing stations at Alert, Nunavut and Little Fox Lake, Yukon. - Community based observations: Numerous communities throughout the Canadian Arctic participate in sample collection - Coordination: National coordination of the program provided by the NCP secretariat, which also acts as liaison with AMAP.
The main objective is to monitor the breeding seabird populations (primarily Uria lomvia, Somateria molissima and Rissa tridactyla).
In order to assess the spatial and temporal patterns of the a-, b- and g-isomers of hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) in the arctic biotic and abiotic environment, it is proposed that: (1) concentrations and ratios of HCH isomers be compared over time in air, water, seals, beluga, polar bears and seabirds to determine any shifts in isomeric ratios and how those shifts interrelate among the various media, and (2) concentrations and ratios of HCH isomers be compared spatially in the abiotic and biotic media and reasons for any patterns explored.
In order to address the the question of utility of arctic seabird eggs as an indicator of contaminant temporal trends, it was proposed that: (1) archived arctic seabird egg contents be re-analyzed for organochlorines according to a standardized pooling and analytical protocol in order to confirm whether those residues have been decreasing since the mid-1970s, (2) archived arctic seabird egg contents be analyzed for mercury and selenium to determine whether or not those levels have been increasing or decreasing since the mid-1970s, (3) egg contents and adult livers be analyzed by full scan and ICP to identify any "new" or previously unidentified organochlorines (MS full scan) or metals (ICP) which may have entered the Canadian arctic food chain.