RESEARCH
Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) are cryospheric hazards that are rapidly evolving due to the impacts of anthropogenic climate change. While these events are heavily researched in other glaciated regions of the world, little is known about the trends and dynamics of these events stemming from the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS), the world’s second-largest body of ice. This expedition aims to better constrain our collective knowledge of how GLOF events from Ice-Marginal Lakes (IMLs) along the GrIS are being impacted by climate change and further impacting the retreat of the GrIS.
This cross-ecosystem study will investigate how freshwater outflows influence trophic ecology and food web structure in the Kongsfjorden region of Svalbard. Working from the Ny-Ålesund research base, we will characterise spatial variability in freshwater discharge chemistry, including pH, turbidity, conductivity, and nutrient concentrations, and assess whether this variability correlates with seabird species presence, abundance, and behaviour near fjordic freshwater outlets. By integrating hydrological, biogeochemical, and behavioural monitoring methods, the study will test ecological linkages and contribute to conceptual models of land–sea connectivity in Arctic fjord ecosystems. This work combines the WG5 (Freshwater Systems) and WP7 (Kongsfjorden Top Trophics) aims of the Ny-Ålesund Terrestrial Ecosystems research flagship.
As the Arctic cryosphere retreats, converging forces see both threat and opportunity in Far North: a fragile ecosystem ripe for either their exploitation or protection. These external narratives, however, often neglect the agency Arctic environments and communities have in shaping their own futures. This project integrates geoscientific experimentation with cultural ecologies and ethnographic inquiry to explore Icelandic trajectories in response to Arctic change—from passive carbonation potentials to sustainable tourism and green infrastructure development. The Charles Swithinbank Expedition seeks to learn from place-based knowledge, centering Icelandic people and their surroundings and reimagining Arctic research as a shared dialogue of pedagogy.
Ethnographically studying the impact and process of identity transformation in extreme conditions, both individually and socially, through the use of arts-based methods.