High Arctic Archipelago Research Articles

First isolate of Toxoplasma gondii from arctic fox ( Vulpes lagopus) from Svalbard

Cats are considered essential for the maintenance of Toxoplasma gondii in nature. However, T. gondii infection has been reported in arctic fox ( Vulpes lagopus) from the Svalbard high arctic archipelago where felids are virtually absent. To identify the potential source of T. gondii, we attempted to isolate and genetically characterize the parasite from arctic foxes in Svalbard. Eleven foxes were trapped live in Grumant (78°11′N, 15°09′E), Svalbard, in September 2005 and 2006. One of the foxes was found to be seropositive to T. gondii by the modified agglutination test (MAT). The fox was euthanized and its heart and brain were bioassayed in mice for the isolation of T. gondii. All 10 mice inoculated with brain tissue and one of the five inoculated with heart developed MAT antibodies, and tissue cysts were found in the brains of seropositive mice. Two cats fed tissues from infected mice shed T. gondii oocysts. Genotyping using 10 PCR-RFLP markers and DNA sequencing of gene loci BSR4, GRA6, UPRT1 and UPRT2 determined the isolate to be Type II strain, the predominant T. gondii lineage in the world.

Novel Rumen Bacterial Diversity in Two Geographically Separated Sub-Species of Reindeer

Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus) live under austere nutritional conditions on the high-arctic archipelago of Svalbard, while semi-domesticated Norwegian reindeer (R. tarandus tarandus) migrate between lush coastal summer pastures and inland winter pastures with lichens on mainland Norway. Svalbard reindeer are known to have high rumen concentrations of cellulolytic bacteria, ranging from 15% of the viable population in summer to 35% in winter, compared to only 2.5% in Norwegian reindeer. Their rumen bacterial diversity was investigated through comparative analyses of 16S rRNA gene sequences ( approximately 1.5 kb in length) generated from clone libraries (n = 121) and bacterial isolates (n = 51). LIBSHUFF comparisons of the composition of the two 16S rRNA libraries from Norwegian reindeer showed a significant effect of artificial feeding compared to natural pasture, but failed to yield significant differences between libraries from Norwegian reindeer and Svalbard reindeer. The combined sequences from reindeer were not significantly different from those reported in wild Thompson's gazelle in Kenya but did differ from those reported in domestic cattle in Japan. A total of 90 distinct operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified by employing a criterion of 97% similarity, while the Chao1 index estimated the reindeer bacterial rumen population richness at 698 OTUs. The majority of the clone library sequences (92.5%) represented novel strains with <97% identity to any known sequence in the public database, most of them affiliated with the bacterial phylum Firmicutes (low G+C Gram-positives) related to the order Clostridiales (76.7%), while Gram-negative bacteria in the Bacteriodales (Prevotella-Bacteroides group) contributed to 22.5%. Also, six of the isolates were putatively novel strains, possibly representing new species in the Clostridium subphylum (cluster XIVa), Actinomyces and Butyrivibrio.

Terrestrial and Freshwater Invertebrate Fauna of the High Arctic Archipelago of Svalbard

An overview of the terrestrial and freshwater invertebrate fauna of the High Arctic archipelago of Svalbard is presented. Sixty seven additional species to the previous checklist are listed and the described terrestrial and freshwater invertebrate fauna of Svalbard now stands at 1,107 species. Species presented are cross referenced to the literature. A brief comparison with the invertebrate fauna of Greenland indicates that Svalbard may be under-represented in Hymenoptera, Hemiptera and Lepidoptera but over-represented in Collembola and Acari. However, since 82% of Svalbard primary source manuscripts originate from three locations along the west coast, there is a resulting likely bias in our knowledge of the invertebrate fauna. The west coast has a mild climate for the northerly latitude due to the influence of the West Spitsbergen Current, a northerly flowing branch of the North Atlantic Drift. The faunistically poorly known east coast is hypothesised to have a different invertebrate fauna due to the predominant winds and currents originating from the north east and hence this coast will have a different history of immigration and colonization from the west coast. The use of checklists is therefore cautioned due to possible sampling bias and omissions created by a concentration of work on popular groups and at a limited number of localities. However, this does not detract from their importance as baseline databases, especially during a period of rapid environmental change.

Ocean temperature oscillations enable reappearance of blue mussels Mytilus edulis in Svalbard after a 1000 year absence

We report the first observations of settled blue mussels Mytilus edulis L. in the high Arctic Archipelago of Svalbard for the first time since the Viking Age. A scattered population was discovered at a single site at the mouth of Isfjorden in August 2004. Our data indicate that most mus- sels settled there as spat in 2002, and that larvae were transported by the West Spitsbergen Current northwards from the Norwegian coast to Svalbard the same year. This extension of the blue mussels' distribution range was made possible by the unusually high northward mass transport of warm Atlantic water resulting in elevated sea-surface temperatures in the North Atlantic and along the west coast of Svalbard.

BENTHIC DIATOM AUTECOLOGY AND INFERENCE MODEL DEVELOPMENT FROM THE CANADIAN HIGH ARCTIC ARCHIPELAGO1

Diatom assemblages were analyzed from 64 lakes and ponds from Alert, Ellesmere Island and Mould Bay, Prince Patrick Island in the Canadian High Arctic Archipelago. Diverse water chemistry conditions and diatom communities were present in these sites. Small benthic taxa typically dominated diatom communities; however, assemblages were markedly different between Alert and Mould Bay sites in response to disparate water chemistry characteristics in the two regions. The most abundant taxa belonged to the genera Navicula, Cymbella, Achnanthes, Nitzschia, and Pinnularia. Canonical correspondence analysis indicated that pH, specific conductivity, dissolved organic carbon, and total phosphorus were the most important limnological variables in determining species composition. Diatom inference models were developed for pH, specific conductivity, and dissolved organic carbon using weighted averaging and weighted averaging partial least squares techniques; these had root mean square error of prediction/r2boot values of 0.40/0.77, 0.28/0.70, and 0.24/0.55, respectively. These models are applicable to sites with large ranges of taxonomic and limnological variation and will allow the reconstruction of past changes of climate‐related limnological parameters from biostratigraphic records in future paleolimnological studies.

Assessment of Elevated Radionuclide Levels in Soils Associated with an Avian Colony in a High Arctic Environment

This article presents the results of an investigation into the occurrence of elevated levels of radionuclides in soils associated with a seabird colony in the Arctic. Soils and other materials were collected from a seabird colony (primarily composed of kittiwakes) in Kongsfjorden, located in the High Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. The samples were analyzed for a suite of gamma emitting natural and anthropogenic radionuclides, including 137Cs and nuclides of the 238U and 232Th series, to establish the level of enrichment and the behavior of the radionuclides in the immediate area. The results indicate that soils near the colony exhibit enrichment factors of 8 for 137Cs, 5 for 238U and 2 for 226Ra compared to the nuclide content of soils from the general area. The spatial patterns of the nuclides in the soil are consistent with enrichment of the soil via run-off draining from a large accumulation of fecal and nesting material that has developed at the base of the colony. 137Cs ingress to the soil appears to have peaked at some point in the past as patterns of enrichment at the colony are different to those exhibited by 238U, which must be assumed to be a steady state contribution. The means of introduction of radionuclides to the colony remains unclear but the transfer of 137Cs from the marine environment to the terrestrial environment via the food chain and deposition of feces is discussed.

Recent Environmental Change and Atmospheric Contamination on Svalbard as Recorded in Lake Sediments – an Introduction

This paper outlines an interdisciplinary project on recent environmental change and atmospheric contamination on the high Arctic archipelago of Svalbard (76°30′N–80°30′N). It describes the rationale and aims of the project and summarises the location, climate, geology, vegetation, and land-use of Svalbard.

Pathetic fallacy: That Canada's arctic sovereignty is on thinning ice

This paper contests the increasingly widespread belief that climate change and Arctic sea‐ice reduction are about to produce a commercial‐shipping challenge to Canadian sovereignty over the Northwest Passage. The author demonstrates that ice‐condition variability and containership economics will not make Canadian Arctic waters a viable alternative to the Suez Canal much before mid‐century, by which time the better option of Arctic transpolar navigation may also be available. He shows that the potential for occasional voyages of rogue, tramp, and non‐cargo ships in the Archipelago could give rise to new Canadian security and law‐enforcement requirements, but not to any great sovereignty challenge. The author reaffirms his 2003 proposal for Canada to approach the US to work out a new Arctic‐waters regime based in part on the recognition that, from a homeland‐security perspective, Canadian law and law enforcement are preferable to internationalstraits status for the Passage. Finally, he urges a reinterpretation of Arctic sovereignty to focus on the capacity of Inuit to lead in a new Canadian occupancy of the high Arctic Archipelago at a time of increased accessibility and geopolitical change.

Variation in extraction efficiency between juvenile and adult oribatid mites: Ameronothrus lineatus (Oribatida, Acari) in a Macfadyen high-gradient canister extractor

Summary A population of Ameronothrus lineatus (Acari, Oribatida) found living on homogeneous Cyanobacteria mats in Coles Bay on the high arctic archipelago of Svalbard, was used to study differential extraction efficiency between life cycle stages in a high-gradient dynamical extractor. The great advantage with this substrate was that the mites were easily seen on the Cyanobacteria surface and could be sampled by hand, and that juveniles in the pre-moult quiescent stage could be identified and sampled. Extracted specimens, as well as animals remaining on the surface of the samples after extraction, were counted, and accurate stage-specific extraction efficiencies were calculated. The experiment was carried out in June when no immatures had yet entered the pre-moult quiescent stage. Efficiencies of active mites varied from 29–36 % for juvenile instars to 75 % in adults. This demonstrated difference between adults and juveniles is reinforced by the fact that each juvenile instar includes a considerable period in the inactive pre-moult stage, remaining on the samples during a dynamic extraction. To investigate the occurrence of quiescence through the growth season, the Coles Bay population was regularly sampled during summer 1998. Quiescence, and hence moulting, was found to be highly synchronised. In population studies based on dynamical extraction, a synchronous quiescent stage will lead to time dependent biases in estimates of density and demography. These sources of sampling error, generally lower extraction efficiency of immatures as well as a pre-moult quiescent stage (possibly synchronised), have hardly been emphasised in population studies on oribatid mites. A field study of A. lineatus comparing proportions of adults in two populations – the one in Coles Bay where mites were hand sampled from the Cyanobacteria mats, and another one from Advent Valley where mites were dynamically extracted from soil – was used to illustrate the effect of these sources of sampling error. We suggest one means to address this problem.

Late Wisconsinan Glaciation of the Central Sector of the Canadian High Arctic

Geomorphic and chronological evidence from Cornwall Island in the Canadian High Arctic Archipelago provides direct evidence for the age and dynamics of the center and northern flank of the Innuitian Ice Sheet that covered the islands during the Late Wisconsonian glacial maximum. Dispersal of erratics and glacial landforms indicate that ice flowed north across the island and converged with ice flowing northwest from Norwegian Bay. Cornwall Island was initially deglaciated at 9000 14C yr B.P. in near synchrony with widely separated sites in adjacent parts of the archipelago. This regional chronology suggests rapid breakup of a marine-based Innuitian Ice Sheet that was destabilized by rapid eustatic sea-level rise and ice thinning during the early Holocene. This evidence provides strong support for a recently proposed ice divide spanning the central part of the Canadian High Arctic and indicates that most, if not all, of the region was glaciated during the Late Wisconsinan.

The Brief Period of Spring Migration, Short Marine Residence, and High Return Rate of a Northern Svalbard Population of Arctic Char

Abstract Arctic char Salvelinus alpinus, in the high-Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, entered the Dieset River (79°10′N) immediately after ice breakup in late June (1991–1993), and within 48 h almost half the migrating population had left the lakes where they spent the winter. The majority of the anadromous char descended into the sea within 3 weeks of the melt. The temporal pattern of emigration was independent of body size. The average residence time at sea of the char was 33.6 d, and the maximum was 56 d. The duration of the seawater sojourn was independent of body size. However, the combined time of downstream migration and marine residence was inversely related to body length in early migrating char. Fish that migrated to the sea early tended to stay there longer. The overall return rate ranged from 33.3% for the smallest (15.1–20 cm) to 75.0% for the largest (45.1–50 cm) char, averaging 51.5%. The average return rate for fish shorter than 25.1 cm (first-time migrants) was 42.5%. The upstream run star...

Functional Anatomy of the Omasum in High Arctic Svalbard Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus) and Norwegian Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus)

The structure and fill of the omasum was investigated in summer and in winter in adult female reindeer living on the polar desert and tundra of the high Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and in sub-Arctic mountain habitats in northern Norway. The mean total mass of the omasum in non-lactating adult female Svalbard reindeer was 467 g (0.65 g per 100 g live body mass (BM)) in September and 477 g (1.03 g per 100 g BM) in April. By contrast, the mean mass of the omasum in non-lactating adult reindeer in northern Norway was 534 g (0.83 g per 100 g BM) in September but only 205 g (0.35 g per 100 g BM p < 0.05) in late March, owing to a decrease in both tissue mass and the wet mass of the contents of the organ. The mean absorptive surface of the omasum in Svalbard reindeer was 2300 cm2 in September and 2023 cm2 in April. In Norwegian reindeer, by contrast, the absorptive surface area decreased from 2201 cm2 in September to 1181 cm2 (p < 0.05) in late March. The marked seasonal decline of omasal tissue and contents in Norwegian reindeer probably results from intake of highly digestible forage plants, including lichens, in winter. Svalbard reindeer, a non-migratory sub-species, survive eating poor quality fibrous vascular plants in winter. The absence of any marked seasonal change in the mass, total absorptive surface area or filling of the omasum in Svalbard reindeer in winter despite a substantial decline in body mass presumably reflects their need to maintain maximum absorption of nutrients, including volatile fatty acids, when feeding on such poorly fermentable forage.

Modelling the influence of glacial isostasy on Late Weichselian ice-sheet growth in the Barents Sea

A fully integrated ice-sheet and glacio-isostatic numerical model was run in order to investigate the crustal response to ice loading during the Late Weichselian glaciation of the Barents Sea. The model was used to examine the hypothesis that relative reductions in water depth, caused by glacio-isostatic uplift, may have aided ice growth from Scandinavia and High Arctic island archipelagos into the Barents Sea during the last glacial. Two experiments were designed in which the bedrock response to ice loading was examined: (i) complete and rapid glaciation of the Barents Sea when iceberg calving is curtailed except at the continental margin, and (ii) staged growth of ice in which ice sheets are allowed to ground at different water depths. Model results predict that glacially generated isostatic uplift, caused by an isostatic forebulge from loads on Scandinavia, Svalbard and other island archipelagos, affected the central Barents Sea during the early phase of glaciation. Isostatic uplift, combined with global sea-level fall, is predicted to have reduced sea level in parts of the central Barents Sea by up to 200 m. This reduction would have been sufficient to raise the sea floor of the Central Bank into a subaerial position. Such sea-floor emergence is conducive to the initiation of grounded ice growth in the central Barents Sea. The model indicates that, prior to its glaciation, the depth of the Central Deep would have been reduced from around 400 m to 200 m. Such uplift aided the migration of grounded ice from the central Barents Sea and Scandinavia into the Central Deep. We conclude that ice loading over Scandinavia and Arctic island archipelagos during the first stages of the Late Weichselian may have caused uplift within the central Barents Sea and aided the growth of ice across the entire Barents Shelf. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Subpermafrost Groundwater Modelling in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard

Svalbard is a high arctic archipelago where the permafrost thickness is 150-450 m and almost continuous in ice-free areas. The model work was carried out in Ny-Ålesund, where the subpermafrost aquifers are recharged by water from the bottom of the Vestre Lovénbreen glacier. One main discharge spring is found at the entrance of an old coal mine. The computer code SUTRA has been used to simulate two-dimensional fluid movement and energy transport in the ground under steady state conditions. For the simulation, a cross section with unit thickness parallel to groundwater flow has been chosen. With the resulting output of SUTRA, contour maps of the pressure, hydraulic head, temperature and velocity have been made. Residence times for different situations have been determined to be15 years as a minimum. In general there is a good agreement between the physical reality and the simulation results.

Mapping seabird nesting habitats in Franz Josef Land, Russian High Arctic, using digital Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery

Supervised classification of digital Landsat satellite images was used to locate seabird nesting habitats in the Russian High Arctic archipelago of Franz Josef Land, a region where the avifauna is poorly known and ecologically vulnerable. Major seabird nesting colonies are readily identifiable in Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery of the region due primarily to the distinctive spectral signature of vegetation on ornithogenically altered soils below bird cliffs. Supervised image classification was used to pinpoint areas displaying spectral characteristics typical of documented seabird nesting habitats. A total of 101 seabird nesting colony locations identified in Russian and Western literature from 1898 to 1996 was used as training sites to develop spectral signatures from a summer TM image mosaic for use in a supervised maximum likelihood classification. The classified image was thresholded and compared to a map of documented nesting locations. Of the 101 field-documented nesting sites, 96 were clearly identified in the classified image. An inventory was produced of all undocumented seabird habitats suggested by the classification, totalling over 300 sites. The methodology used may be applicable to other arctic regions and is intended as a first step when planning ecological protection zones in remote and inaccessible arctic regions.

The incidence of glacier surging in Svalbard: evidence from multivariate statistics

Surge-type glaciers switch between long periods of slow flow and short periods of fast flow. The spatial distribution of surge-type glaciers is markedly non-random. The clustering of surge-type glaciers in certain glaciated regions and their complete absence from other regions, suggests that environmental factors control surging. To identify factors that control surging, the relationship between surging, glacial variables and geological environment was tested using logit regression models. In the analysis we used 132 surge-type and 372 normal glaciers identified from the literature and aerial photographs in the High Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. We calculated that approximately 13% of the glaciers of Svalbard are of surge-type. In the analysis we used 13 variables collected from glacier inventories and geology maps. Variables that are significantly associated with surging in Svalbard are glacier length, surface slope and the lithology of the underlying bedrock. Multivariate analyses show that long glaciers overlying shale or mudstone with steep surface slopes have the highest probabilities of surging. Surge-type glaciers are significantly less likely to overlie rocks older than Devonian. These findings do not support Kamb's linked cavity theory of surging but lend some support to soft-bed surge theories.

Solute provenance, transport and denudation in a high arctic glacierized catchment

Recent understanding of chemical weathering in glacierized catchments has been focused on mid-latitude, Alpine catchments; comparable studies from the high latitudes are currently lacking. This paper attempts to address this deficiency by examining solute provenance, transport and denudation in a glacierized catchment at 78°N in the Svalbard High Arctic archipelago. Representative samples of snow, glacier ice, winter proglacial icing and glacier meltwater were obtained from the catchment during spring and summer 1993 and analysed for major ion chemistry. Seasonal variations in the composition of glacier meltwater occur and are influenced by proglacial solute acquisition from the icing at the very start of the melt season, and subsequently by a period of discharge of concentrated snowmelt caused by snowpack elution; weathering within the ice-marginal channels that drain the glacier, particularly carbonation reactions, continues to furnish solute to meltwater when suspended sediment concentrations increase later in the melt season. Partitioning the solute flux into its various components (sea-salt, crustal, aerosol and atmospheric sources) shows that c. 25% of the total flux is sea salt derived, consistent with the maritime location of the glacier, and c. 71% is crustally derived. Estimated chemical denudation, 160 meq m−2 a−1 sea salt-corrected cation equivalent weathering rate, is somewhat low compared with other studied glacierized catchments (estimates in the range 450–1000 meq m−2 a−1), which is probably attributable to the relatively short melt season and low specific runoff in the High Arctic. A positive relationship was identified between discharge and CO2 drawdown owing to carbonation reactions in turbid meltwater. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Solute provenance, transport and denudation in a high arctic glacierized catchment

Recent understanding of chemical weathering in glacierized catchments has been focused on mid-latitude, Alpine catchments ; comparable studies from the high latitudes are currently lacking. This paper attempts to address this deficiency by examining solute provenance, transport and denudation in a glacierized catchment at 78°N in the Svalbard High Arctic archipelago. Representative samples of snow, glacier ice, winter proglacial icing and glacier meltwater were obtained from the catchment during spring and summer 1993 and analysed for major ion chemistry. Seasonal variations in the composition of glacier meltwater occur and are influenced by proglacial solute acquisition from the icing at the very start of the melt season, and subsequently by a period of discharge of concentrated snowmelt caused by snowpack elution; weathering within the ice-marginal channels that drain the glacier, particularly carbonation reactions, continues to furnish solute to meltwater when suspended sediment concentrations increase later in the melt season. Partitioning the solute flux into its various components (sea-salt, crustal, aerosol and atmospheric sources) shows that c. 25% of the total flux is sea salt derived, consistent with the maritime location of the glacier, and c. 71% is crustally derived. Estimated chemical denudation, 160 meq m -2 a -1 sea salt-corrected cation equivalent weathering rate, is somewhat low compared with other studied glacierized catchments (estimates in the range 450-1000 meq m -2 a -1 ), which is probably attributable to the relatively short melt season and low specific runoff in the High Arctic. A positive relationship was identified between discharge and CO 2 drawdown owing to carbonation reactions in turbid meltwater.

The importance of polynyas, ice edges, and leads to marine mammals and birds

The correlation between areas of open water in ice-covered seas and increased biological productivity has been noted for some time. To date, most attention has been focused on larger polynyas, such as the Northeast Water and the Northwater. Although spectacular in their own right, these large polynyas represent only part of a vitally important continuum of biological productivity that varies significantly between geographic areas and ice habitats, that includes the multi-year pack of the polar ocean and small localized polynyas in annual ice. Surveys of the distribution and abundance of ringed seals in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago have shown differences in density that are correlated with the presence or absence of polynyas. There is also significant variation in the biological productivity of polynya areas of the Canadian High Arctic Archipelago and northern Greenland, all of which receive inflow from the polar basin. Long-term studies of polar bears and ringed seals in western Hudson Bay and the eastern Beaufort Sea show significant but dissimilar patterns of change in condition and reproductive rates between the two regions and suggest that fundamentally different climatic or oceanographic processes may be involved. Projections of climate models suggest that, if warming occurs, then the extent of ice cover in Hudson Bay may be among the first things affected. Long-term studies of polar bears and ringed seals in the eastern Beaufort Sea and Hudson Bay would suggest these two species to be suitable indicators of significant climatic or oceanographic changes in the marine ecosystem.

Glacier hydrology in Svalbard, Norwegian high arctic

Progress in glacier hydrology has focused on temperate glaciers, although partly or wholly non-temperate glaciers are found in many parts of the world, and significant areas of former ice sheets were probably non-temperate. It has usually been assumed that drainage from non-temperate glaciers consists of relatively dilute and invariable supraglacial runoff. In this paper, the hydrology of glaciers in the High-Arctic archipelago of Svalbard is examined. Variations in the thermal regimes of glaciers, and their implications for drainage, are first addressed. Results from Svalbard concerning meltwater discharge and storage, and solute and suspended-sediment dynamics are then reviewed. In general, meltwater penetration of non-temperate ice is limited, and drainage from non-temperate glaciers in Svalbard has many of the characteristics of sub-aerial drainage. However, it would be erroneous to view this drainage simply as dilute supraglacial runoff, as significant material transport occurs in suspension and solution. Furthermore, twentieth-century climate change has probably led to changes in the thermal regimes of some Svalbard glaciers, such that relict drainage structures are sometimes observed, while meltwater yields are augmented by runoff which can be attributed to the loss of mass from glaciers. At large spatial scales, turbid plumes observed at the marine margins of polythermal ice caps indicate that meltwater can be routed subglacially through non-temperate ice.