Category: SAS

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Open position: Project Manager for Synoptic Arctic Survey

At the Geophysical institute we have an open permanent position as Project Manager (Advisor) for the international secretariat of the Synoptic Arctic Survey, hosted by Norway and the UiB. The position is jointly funded by strategic allocations from the UiB and by the EU H2020 project ArcticPassion. The initial scope of the position may change with time, depending on future funding.

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Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) Meeting

On the 11th of June, a virtual SSC meeting was held. It dealt with updates from planned SAS expeditions, the construction of a new SAS data portal, as well as upcoming meetings and webinars suchs as the Arctic Science Ministerial Meeting and next year’s Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW). A brief summary of relevant updates are provided in the following. 

Despite the COVID-19 situation many of the SAS cruises are still going as planned in 2020, whereas others are postponed until 2021 or even 2022. The cruises going as planned in 2020 include the Korean and Japanese cruises in the Pacific Central Arctic Ocean from August 8 to September 4 (Korea) and from 13 October to 22 October (Japan), and the Norwegian/Russian contribution in the Barents Sea in August/September, the Canada/USA/EU cruise in Davis Strait from August 22 to September 17, and the Canada/USA/Japan cruise in the Beaufort Gyre from September 14 to to October 3. 

SSC was also informed about two potentially new SAS cruises planned for 2021 which we were delighted to learn about. Karen Edelvang presented the Danish contribution “Polar DREAM 2021 – From glacier to glacier”, a survey consisting of three ships that will take measurements at 1) the glacier front and shelf break on the south-eastern parts of Greenland, 2) the glacier front and shelf break in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, and 3) across Fram Strait. 

Vito Vitale gave a presentation on the tentative plans for the Italian 2021 summer expedition with the newly acquired icebreaker Laura Bassi. This expedition can potentially contribute with physical, biological, atmospheric, and geological/geophysical measurements outside the west coast of Svalbard which will be most valuable to SAS and the international community. 

Details on these cruises in addition to plans for all SAS expeditions can be found in the cruise matrix from the “Expeditions” tab. This table has updated information on all cruises in collaboration with SAS.

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Meet our new coordinator, Anne Kari

Hello Anne Kari Øhman Meisingset!

  • What is your background? I have an MSc in chemical oceanography from the University of Bergen where I studied the increase in anthropogenic CO2 in the Nordic seas and Arctic Ocean. After finishing my degree last year, I participated in an ICOS Norway project, and I have been working on getting my thesis published.
  • What will you be doing in the SAS project? I will join the SAS team as a coordinator.
  • What fascinates you about the Arctic? There is so many fascinating things about the Arctic, but what intrigues me the most is all the unanswered questions and the ability to be a part of a community that might answer some of them. For example, how will climate change affect the Arctic region, and how will the physical, chemical, and biological processes respond to that change? When I worked on my thesis I never really knew what to expect from my results in the Arctic Ocean since there is not many findings to compare with, and it was always exciting to dive into different theories that could explain what I found.