In August 2016, top Arctic climate researchers traveled to Greenland to conduct a study of ice sheet and ocean interactions in fjords. They looked at the impact of glacial melt water on coastal carbon cycling.
Led by Canada Excellence Research Chair Søren Rysgaard of the University of Manitoba and Mikael Kristian Sejr of Aarhus University, the Baffin Bay System Study team traveled to 55 stations in five different fjords. This included fjords with both land and marine terminating glaciers.
Over the 21 days of fieldwork, they deployed seven oceanographic moorings along the coast from Nuuk to Melville Bay. Thanks to ideal weather conditions, the team was able to take samples relatively close to two glacial fronts, which will provide very promising data on ocean glacier dynamics in Greenland fjords. The team is now processing the samples and data from the cruise.
The Baffin Bay System Study is part of ongoing efforts to understand the impacts of climatic drivers on ecosystem structure and function in Greenland coastal waters. It is a subproject of the 2016 Baffin Bay Sanna Campaign, which is funded through the Danish Cooperation for Environment in the Arctic, an initiative of the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark. The cruise received funding from the Danish Centre for Marine Research and the Arctic Research Centre.
For more information, visit the Arctic Science Partnership website.