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Stijn De Schepper

JOIDES Resolution research vessel at the dock_Stijn De Schepper

The last IODP Expedition with Joides Resolution

It is that time of year again: field season! This year AGENSI researchers are participating in several sea-going expeditions in the Iceland Sea, Lofoten Basin, Arctic Ocean and Fram Strait. The longest expedition this year goes to the eastern Fram Strait with the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP Expedition 403). We just left from the port of Amsterdam, with destination eastern Fram Strait. We will be at sea for 2… Read More »The last IODP Expedition with Joides Resolution

PhD completed

On Monday 13 May, Kristine Steinsland successfully defended her PhD thesis. The title of her thesis is: Sea Ice Variability in a Warmer Past: Last Interglacial Paleoceanography of the (Sub)Arctic Oceans. A popular summary is published on the website of the University of Bergen (in Norwegian) and on the Bjerknes Centre’s website (in English). Congratulations Kristine! Photo by D.M. Grant

Reconstructing sea ice history with Polarella

Last week, our colleagues Sara Hardardottir (HAFRO, Iceland) and Sofia Ribeiro (GEUS, Denmark) published a new study on using ancient DNA of a specific sea ice algae to reconstruct past climate change in the Arctic. A few years ago, Sara and Sofia came to our lab in Bergen to further develop this DNA-based method that detects the sea ice dinoflagellate Polarella glacialis (see pictures) in marine sediments. We hinted in… Read More »Reconstructing sea ice history with Polarella

Publication!

Over the summer, an AGENSI publication was published by Kristine Steinsland et al. in Quaternary Science Reviews. The study investigates variations in sea ice in the northern North Atlantic throughout the last interglacial. You can read the article via this link.

AGENSI is also at the 2nd GoNorth expedition

The 2nd GoNorth expedition has just come to an end. We had Katja Häkli representing AGENSI on board RV Kronprins Harken for this expedition to the Gakkel Ridge and Lucky Ridge. Here she is collecting mud from the box corer (Foto: Daniel Albert GoNorth/SINTEF). The trip was eventful: early on the ship needed to return to the mainland for repairs, and later the sea ice was too heavy for the… Read More »AGENSI is also at the 2nd GoNorth expedition

Cruise movie (Summer 2021)

It has taken a bit of time, but we finally brought together our impressions and movie clips from last year’s Arctic Paleoceanography cruise with the research vessel Kronprins Haakon to the Arctic Ocean. In late June 2021, we set sail from Longyearbyen to collect surface sediments, long sediment archives, water and plankton samples. We sailed to the Arctic Ocean, north of Svalbard. The ocean is covered there with seasonal sea… Read More »Cruise movie (Summer 2021)

Arctic Paleoceanography Cruise (KH21-234) Report

The report from the Arctic Paleoceanography Cruise which took place from 30 June to 11 July 2021 is now available. The entire AGENSI team was onboard the research vessel Kronprins Haakon in the Arctic Ocean to collect water and sediment samples. Download the report here.

New publication in Science Advances on ocean eukaryotic biodiversity

Read in the latest edition of Science Advances about Tristan Cordier’s work on ocean eukaryotic biodiversity. Together with his international collaborators, he analysed almost 1700 samples and assembled two billion DNA sequences from the surface ocean, the meso/bathypelagic zone and the sea floor. They were able to separate benthic from planktonic organisms and showed that benthic biodiversity is much greater than in the water column above. Tristan is currently a… Read More »New publication in Science Advances on ocean eukaryotic biodiversity

Bjerknes Centre podcast on ancient DNA and sea ice

Our team member Danielle Grant talks about ancient DNA under the Arctic sea ice in this Bjerknes Centre podcast. Danielle, a PhD student in the AGENSI project, investigates fossil DNA in ocean sediments to understanding past variability of sea ice in the Arctic. with recovering sediments from RV Kronprins Haakon, working in a super clean lab during a pandemic, and her PhD research. The Bjerknes Centre podcast is hosted by… Read More »Bjerknes Centre podcast on ancient DNA and sea ice