In late summer 2023 and 2024 we were a small group of people sailing up to the north Svalbard to clean the distant shores from plastic. It is amazing how much marine litter ends up even on these remote beaches. In August-September 2025 we will go again. I am very happy to be a part of all this!
#marinelitter #beachcleanup @polarx@handelensmiljofond@saltlofoten@rydd_i_tide #polarx #polarxplorer #rydd_i_tide #svalbard
According to surveys the numbers of Arctic Foxes are increasing in Sweden thanks to lots of different conservation measures. The year 2000 there were only approx. 40-60 individuals left in Fennoscandia and in 2022 there were 559 Arctic foxes counted in that same area. It is a success story thanks to Länsstyrelser, researchers, organisations and volonteers. But it is a fragile population; climate change, red foxes and the absence of ”lemming years” are factors that make the Arctic fox population a vulnerable one.
A few years ago I had the opportunity to survey parts of the population in the mountains west of Arjeplog, in northern Sweden, together with @rasmustq and @the.ciren . We found many populated dens and offspring, so many that we decided to catch the foxes and tag them to be able to identify them later on and therefore be able to determine reproduction success rate and the number of Arctic Fox individuals.
#fjällrävsprojektet
📷 Rasmus Törnqvist
It is fire season🔥 In a world where natural disturbances like fire, grazing, browsing, digging, chewing, burrowing, damming, trampling etc. are gone, us humans have to do that work to create space for more species and more diveristy. The ratio between wild mammals and domesticated mammals is 4% wild to 96% domesticated (pigs, cows, poultry and humans).
It is a mistery to me why we do not let more wild animals roam our landscapes to make them more diverse, resilient, economic and magic. Anyone?
Expedition IQ2300 is over for this season! Equipment is (hopefully) stored in its right place until next year. Thank you everyone who helped out, old and new collegues and friends!!
@polarforskning@awiexpedition #antarctica #antarcticexpedition #fieldwork #fieldworkfriday
It is almost time to leave Antarctica, someone else is occupying the runway, the champagne has been poured and the Twin Otter has taken us to Wolf’s Fang runway
@polarforskning@awi #antarctica
SHELF-ESTEEM
drilling cores from the shelf ice, trying to figure out what is under the surface. We possibly even found a ”lake” deep down, which might be importamt information on the connection between the shelf and the ice sheet upstream!
@polarforskning@awi
Camp life is going well on the ice shelf. Weather station is mounted, in beautiful surroundings! A snow petrel flying by is the only sign of life. Cosy living modules and wifi, doing Antarctic research is very comfortable compared to the old days I guess, only the tents look the same. (Second picture: Amundsen & co by the south pole)
📍 Neumayer III, Antarktis
Isberg i havsisen, snödrivor och –10 °C. Här vid 70:e breddgraden häckar runt 30 000 par kejsarpingviner, och deras “tonårsungar” står för ljudkulissen i midnattssolen. 🐧
Snart ger vi oss ut på Riiser-Larsens ishylla för att samla data om hur den östantarktiska inlandsisen påverkas av ett varmare klimat. På stationen hjälps alla åt. Nyligen borrade vi genom 7,7 m havsis + 3 m snö!
📷 Forskare och tekniker gräver sig ner till isen. Foto: Andreas Bergström
#expedition #iQ2300
We are done cleaning beaches on Svalbard, for this season! 33 tons of plastic (including that little plastic polar bear found under a log) and other marine litter has been collected… fog, waves, polar bears, winds, boat engines, shallow waters, tides … made it all very exciting!
What a great team!
@rydd_i_tide@polarx@handelensmiljofond
