Start of the PAS scientific Spitsbergen expedition
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26th scientific Spitsbergen expedition of the Institute of Oceanology PAS in Sopot began in Gdansk. Research ship Oceania sailed out under the long-term AREX program of the European Arctic sea research.
For 26 years, the Institute of Oceanology PAS in Sopot has organized annual expeditions in the Arctic, conducting research related to climate change.
According to Dr. Joanna Potrykus of the Office of Research Coordination of the Institute of Oceanology PAS in Sopot, the trip includes the Norwegian, Barents and the Greenland seas, and West Spitsbergen fjords. During the trip researchers will make hydrographic, meteorological and aerosol measurements. "This broad, interdisciplinary range of research allows to observe changes in the Arctic due to global climate change" - she explained. Research expedition will last two months.
Head of the expedition Dr. Waldemar Walczowski told PAP that the expedition is divided into two parts, the ocean and the fjords. During the ocean stage, from Tromso to the Fram Strait (passage between Greenland and Svalbard, where the Arctic Ocean and Greenland Sea connect) scientists will conduct research in the fields of physical oceanography, meteorology and ecology. Walczowski explained that "scientists are primarily interested in water bodies". "Atlantic water temperature has a great impact on the climate, but also on glaciers, their melting, the formation of atmospheric conditions over the Arctic" - he added.
He said that in the second part, "in the Hornsund fjord and other fjords, ecology-oriented studies will be conducted".
Institute of Oceanology PAS is the only institute in Poland to conduct this type of ocean research. "At the moment the Institute ship +Oceania+ is the only Polish research vessel working in the open ocean and outside the Baltic" - said Dr. Walczowski. "We have been conducting these studies for years and after years of work we are a well known and respected work partner in the Arctic" - he added.
29 scientists will participate in the expedition, mainly researchers from the Institute of Oceanology PAS in Sopot, the University of Gdansk and institutions cooperating with the Institute. "The ship, in addition to 14 crew members, can carry 14 scientists, and therefore there will be exchange of research staff during the expedition" - explained Potrykus. On Tuesday, six scientists sailed from Gdańsk. The rest of the crew will get onboard in Tromso.
The ship is expected to return to Gdańsk after August 20.
Polar Station of the Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, the northernmost year-round Polish scientific outpost operates in the Bay of the White Bear (Isbjornhamna) in Hornsund, West Spitsbergen Island since 1957.
PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland
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