From 06 – 09 November 2023, the Nansen Legacy Symposium will take place in Tromsø, Norway. This symposium symbolizes end of the Norwegian national project “The Nansen Legacy”.  This project advanced the understanding of the marine and climatic system in the northern Barents Sea and the European Arctic. The symposium, thus, focuses on the pan-Arctic Ocean and is entitled “Towards a new Arctic Ocean – Past, Present, Future”.

The project and likewise the symposium is co-organized by many Norwegian research institutions and universities, of which a lot are also partners in FACE-IT: the Norwegian Polar Institute, The University Centre in Svalbard, and the Norwegian Institute for Marine Research, as well as close collaboration partners like the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø UiT.

FACE-IT colleague Sebastian Gerland (Norwegian Polar Institute) is member of the Core Organizing Committee of the symposium. Laura Castro De La Guardia (Norwegian Polar Institute) co-organises the session “Physical drivers: Causes and consequences of Arctic Ocean warming, freshening, and sea ice decline”.

Janne Søreide from The University Centre in Svalbard delivers one of the plenary talks, entitled: “Strong Seasonality and Advection Shape the
Zooplankton Community in the European Arctic”

Talks of FACE-IT members: 

• Laura Castro De La Guardia (Norwegian Polar Institute): “Phytoplankton Primary Production in the North-Western Barents Sea 1980-2021: No Obvious Trends but a Regime Shift Triggered by a Pulse of Atlantic Water”
• Simon Jungblut (University of Bremen): “Feeding Preferences of Sea Urchins on Arctic Macroalgae Assemblages Changing with Depth”

Poster presentations of FACE-IT members:

• Pedro Duarte (Norwegian Polar Institute): “Water Column and Sea Ice Primary Production in the North-Western Barents”
• Simon Jungblut (University of Bremen): “Historical Changes in Biomass, Total Abundance, and Species Composition of Seaweed-Associated Fauna in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard”
• Arunima Sen (The University Centre in Svalbard): “Diverse and Self-Sustaining Benthos of an Arctic Oil Seep”
• Thomas Gjerluff Ager (Aarhus University): “Greenland Climate Trends and Marine Ecosystem Responses”

Photo: Simon Jungblut (University of Bremen)