Climate Change Questions in the Arctic Ocean

Publication date: 20/06/2007

Two teams of Bangor scientist are to conduct climate change research in the Arctic Ocean over the next few months, funded by the UK's Natural Environment Research Council.

"The Arctic is being hit hard by global warming. Whilst average temperatures globally have risen by less than 1 degree C, in the Arctic average temperatures have risen by 3 degrees C, in the past few decades,"

First to head off to the Arctic Circle (23.6-13.7) are scientist and lecturer, Dr Nia Whiteley and research student, Sam Rastrick from the University's School of Biological Sciences. The team will spend three weeks in Svalbard, Spitzbergen, in the Arctic Circle, collecting amphipods; small shrimp-like crustaceans that are at the bottom of the food web.

Their interest is in finding out how these important and abundant creatures will adapt to climate change.

"I'm particularly interested in creatures that cannot control their body temperature, and how they are able to react to changes in their environment," explains Dr Whiteley. "There is a wide margin in which such creatures can survive, and many will move habitat in response. The amphipods in the Artic Circle however, are unable to move further north.

"My particular interest is in how temperature change affects the metabolism of these creatures: the rate at which they convert food into energy. It is this that affects their distribution and abundance and their size. We are looking at the same species of arthropod at three locations ranging from Portugal to the Arctic Ocean. The ultimate question is whether this creature will be at a disadvantage as sea temperatures increases.

"Being at the base of the food web, a wide range of fish, mammals and birds rely on amphipods as a source of food. They are a valuable animal to study for scientists as they are also a good environmental indicator of what will happen in the environment as a whole."

"So far, I have studied animals from Scotland, Wales and Portugal, and now I am excited to have the opportunity to include animals from the Arctic in my work," says Sam Rastrick.

"This research trip is a once in a life-time opportunity to visit such a remote spot and I'm really looking forward to the experience, even if this involves rifle training to guard against polar bear attack," he says.

The amphipods that will be collected from a beach in Svalbard measure around 2 cm in length and are substantially bigger than the same species that can be found in Portugal, their size being a reaction to the temperature. Their oxygen intake and heart rate will be measured before they are returned to their Arctic beach.

This September, scientists from the University's School of Ocean Sciences will head for the Arctic Ocean with the aim of understanding more about the role freshwater in the Arctic Ocean plays in the determining our climate. They will travel in a Russian nuclear powered ice breaker and are set to cross the North Pole in the ship. Apparently this is no challenge to the ship as the ice will 'only' be between 7-9 metres thick during the Arctic summer!

Bangor Team leader Dr Tom Rippeth said "Whilst the Arctic Ocean is in nobody's backyard it plays a major role in determining our climate through its influence on ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream."

"Climate changes occurring there will have a huge, but as yet unknown, impact on the amount of freshwater entering the Arctic Ocean. We know that the extent of the polar ice cover has shrunk dramatically in the past 30 years."

"The question is how will this affect the Atlantic circulation, which is a key determinate of our climate here in the UK."

It is estimated that the ocean ice cover in the Arctic is declining at the rate of 38,000 square miles per year -- that's equivalent in an area 5 times the size of Wales. The melting ice will dilute the sea water, changing its density, and therefore impacting on ocean currents.

The ocean scientists will join scientists from University College London, Cambridge and elsewhere, on the ship to make a series of measurements across the Arctic Ocean which they will then combine with complex computer models to help improve understanding of the key processes which influence the Arctic Ocean circulation.

The work is part of the International Polar Year, a large scientific programme focused on the Arctic and the Antarctic from March 2007 to March 2009, and which involves scientists from over 60 nations.