EU Research at the Top of the World: Commissioner Potočnik Visits the World's Northernmost

MEMO/07/272

Brussels, 4 July 2007

EU research at the top of the world: Commissioner Potočnik visits the world's northernmost settlement.

From 4-6 July, European Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik will visit Svalbard in Northern Norway as part of International Polar Year. The visit is at the invitation of the Norwegian research minister and will include discussion with students taking part in EU projects; visiting an EU-funded research vessel; visiting an EU-funded radar facility studying the interaction between the earth and the sun; visiting the European Centre for Arctic Environmental Research. During the trip, the Commissioner will spend time in Tromsø in mainland Norway, Longyearbyen, the administrative centre of Svalbard, and Ny-Ålesund, the world's most northerly human settlement. This MEMO gives background information on the places and projects that the Commissioner will see during his visit and other on-going EU-funded research in the area.

Svalbard

Svalbard consists of a group of islands (76-81° N, 10-35°E) and is the northernmost part of the Kingdom of Norway. The Svalbard Treaty recognises Norwegian sovereignty over Svalbard. With the 1925 Svalbard Act, Norway chose to make Svalbard a part of the Kingdom, and it remains one of four special entities whose status is recognised by international treaty in the world today.

The Governor of Svalbard is the Norwegian government's supreme representative in the archipelago. The institution is quite unique in Norway in that it heads a department of environment conservation and a police unit. It also deals with several other fields.

The Svalbard archipelago is a unique research platform in the European Arctic with its easy accessibility and well developed infrastructure, despite of its remote high latitude location. It is the best equipped Arctic research platform in the world. It has a very favourable geographical location for research within upper atmosphere and space physics, biology, geology and geophysics, in particular environmental research such as climate change, long-range transportation of pollutants, ecology, ocean-atmosphere interactions. Global warming with increased climate variability, stratospheric change and the long-range transported contaminants, represent multiple challenges to arctic ecosystems that add to the harsh environments with large natural variability. This is due to the fact that these key environmental factors are amplified in the Arctic, forced by natural and anthropogenic variability.

Svalbard was used as a research platform already under the first International Polar Year (1882–83) and during the International Geophysical Year (1957–58).

Longyearbyen

Longyearbyen is the administrative centre of Svalbard and has approximately 1 800 inhabitants. Research activities and tourism are growing steadily each year due to its excellent infrastructure. The research infrastructures include ():

-One of the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association (EISCAT) radars to study the interaction between the Sun and the Earth as revealed by disturbances in the ionosphere and magnetosphere. EISCAT is funded and operated by the research councils of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany and receives also support from the EU's 6th Research Framework Programme.

-The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) opened in 1993. It is a cooperation of all four Norwegian universities which provides lectures in geophysics, Arctic biology, geology and arctic technology as well as bachelor, master and PhD positions. In all it has about 300 students, but these numbers will increase with the opening of the new Research Centre.

More information can be found on the Svalbard Science Forum website:

Ny-Ålesund

This is the world's northernmost functional public settlement at 78°55′N, 11°56′E. Today, it is inhabited by a permanent population of approximately 30-35 persons. All of them are working for one of the research stations. The Norwegian state-owned company Kings BayAS owns the land and most of the infrastructure in Ny-Ålesund. The main activities carried out are related to climate research and environmental monitoring. Ny-Ålesund is designated by the Norwegian authorities to be a green scientific station, where scientists should get access to a near pristine environment and where local pollution is kept at a minimum. Ny-Ålesund is also characterised as being a “radio silent area", permitting the effective use of passive receiving equipment.

Today 12 research institutions are established in Ny-Ålesund representing 9 different countries: Norway, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, France, Japan, SouthKorea, China, the Netherlands and Sweden. Four of the stations are manned all year round. The German institute for polar and marine research, Alfred-Wegener-Institute (AWI), and the French Institute Polaire Francais - Paul Emile Victor (IPEV) act as a joint research platform for scientists from both countries, AWIPEV. The bulk of year-round observation is dedicated to the global Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC). The platform is run as a comprehensive base for a large spectrum of polar research with many long term projects notably in atmospheric sciences.

An Arctic Marine Laboratory is run by Kings BayAS. This experimental laboratory is ideal for researchers in marine ecology, physiology, and biochemistry as well as some physical sciences like oceanography, marine geology and ice physics. Proper lab facilities are offered with system-control of experimental variables like temperature and salinity and good facilities for carrying out experiments under ambient conditions (e.g. ambient seawater and light). The marine lab contains some basic equipment and instruments.

Zeppelin station: the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) runs a year-round comprehensive atmospheric monitoring program for pollutants and influences on climate from NPI's Zeppelin station situatedat 473 meters elevation on the Zeppelin mountain. The monitoring program is maintained in close collaboration with StockholmUniversity.

The Norwegian Polar Institute's "Sverdrup station" has a permanent staff of engineers and technicians in total four, increased during summertime. The staff is responsible for maintenance of the equipment and the continuous operation of instruments for a range of scientific projects. NPI offers services for national and foreign research institutions.

FP6 DAMOCLES activities in Svalbard in July 2007

DAMOCLES is currently the main European contribution to polar research, receiving just over €17 million from the EU Research Framework Programme. It is an integrated ice-atmosphere-ocean monitoring and forecasting system designed for observing, understanding and quantifying climate changes in the Arctic. DAMOCLES is specifically concerned with the potential for a significantly reduced sea ice cover, and the impact this might have on the environment and on human activities, both regionally and globally.

Sea-Ice summer school

Sea ice plays a very active role in the Earth's climate system and reacts rather rapidly to climatic changes. To reflect the recent progress in our understanding of sea ice and its interaction with the ocean and the atmosphere, an "International Sea-Ice Summer School" is organised between 2-13 July. The school provides a platform for interdisciplinary exchange between students and scientists and is part of the outreach program of the International Polar Year (IPY). It is held in association with the University of the Arctic (UArctic) at the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS). World experts on a wide range of sea-ice related subjects will be lecturing at the summer school. The school will therefore provide a broad base for inter-disciplinary discussion among scientists and students.

R/V Oceania

This large sailing research vessel (50 m long) is owned by the PolishAcademy of Science and operated by the Institute of Oceanology in Sopot. She will be in the Arctic undertaking a number of activities in the context of the DAMOCLES project including: plankton sampling, marine optics and acoustics. If operating conditions allow her to call at Svalbard during the Commissioner's visit, he will make a tour of her facilities.

Vagabond

This small yacht (15.3m length) is a dedicated base camp for DAMOCLES, for study of the Arctic Ocean sea ice and its future. The Vagabond crew will work with scientists on the East Coast of Spitsbergen between 2004 and 2008.

Other FP6 projects related to arctic research

European Centre for Arctic Environmental Research (ARCFAC V)

Six Research Platforms form the basis of this Research Infrastructure, together with the General Infrastructure providing accommodation and transportation as well as Logistical Services offered for field campaigns. The high latitude location and multidisciplinary research environment are ideal for research and monitoring within a broad range of contemporary Arctic Environmental Research including: Climate change and ecosystem response; UV-radiation and biological effects; long-range transported pollutants; ecotoxicology.

The European Centre for Arctic Environmental Research forms the northernmost baseline node within several climate research programmes and international networks. It is unique in Europe in light of the multitude of different environmental research and monitoring programmes running simultaneously at the same site, providing excellent conditions for multi- and interdisciplinary co-operation projects and data-exchange. As a modern research station in a clean natural laboratory, the European Centre for Arctic Environmental Research will continue to play an important role in Europe, providing access to a large number of scientists from an increasing number of countries taking part in Arctic research.

ARCFAC V receives 1.833 million € from the research infrastructures programme of FP6.

European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association

The radars of the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association (EISCAT) are the world’s leading ground based instruments providing high quality radar observations of the auroral and polar ionosphere and atmosphere. Current and future ionospheric and plasma physics research, geophysical environmental monitoring, modelling, and forecasting (e.g. for space weather, ionospheric corrections, and climate change) are driving requirements for both quasi-continuous observations and substantially improved spatial and temporal resolution.

A four year design study, EISCAT 3D, is funded by the FP6 Infrastructures programme (2 M €) to investigate the technical feasibility, costs, and potential European manufacturers of a new next generation VHF incoherent scatter radar with distributed power amplifiers and an upgraded antenna array for both transmission and reception, together with at least two further remote reception facilities, using phased arrays with multiple distributed receivers. The design study also encompasses essential developments in advanced signal processing, data collection, distribution, and analysis.

The EISCAT Scientific Association provides world-class research and training opportunities, in geophysics, signal processing, and high powered radar systems, which will be made available to a wider user community.

The EISCAT USERS 1 project provides support for up to four new users annually to visit the EISCAT facilities, receive help and support to design suitable experimental schemes, up to 24 hours of radar observing time, and assistance with the subsequent data processing, analysis, and interpretation. The present project, funded through the FP6 Infrastructures programme, receives 580,213 €and will extend the availability of the systems to scientists from other countries, particularly those from countries which have recently joined, or are seeking to join, the European Union.