Think Tank - Interview with Dr. Hop

In June 2005, Paul Cox from the National Marine Aquarium joined a Norwegian Polar Institute team on a research cruise to Kongsfjord, Spitsberg in the Norwegian Arctic. As part of the Euroceans network of excellence, these researchers are studying the potential impact of climate change on marine food webs. Dr Haakon Hop was the cruise leader on this trip and heads up the Mariclim project.

For more information on this trip including a short film go to www.eur-oceans.info

Cox Hop

Dr. Hop and Paul Cox

1. What does the term climate change mean to you?
Climate change takes place over time. We tend to concentrate on changes that occur within our own lifetimes, but climate change will take many years to take effect. If we look at the climate changes that have taken place over the last thousand years, then by comparison, the changes we are seeing today are dramatic.
2. How would a changing climate affect Kongsfjorden?
The glacier in front of us here is retreating by about 200m per year. There used to be an island connecting to the glacier but it has disappeared so there are big changes happening. Kongsfjorden is affected by the Atlantic water going into the Fjord and the fauna in the Fjord is changing as a result of more warm Atlantic water.
3. What is your team doing to measure the effects of climate change?
To address climate change we need to establish a record of changes over a period of time. Even a 5 or 10 year data record is not enough really to see the changes, but in Kongsfjord we have started long-term data recording of zooplankton. We already have 10 years worth of data on this and we will link our findings to water mass properties.
4. How much time do you spend here each year?
We typically spend a month/month and a half here. Lately we have worked on research cruises in the Barents Sea and north of Svalbard, so I haven’t spent much time here lately, but usually we would spend time here working on our zooplankton research and collecting samples.
5. Do you still enjoy coming here? Does it still excite you?
I enjoy seeing the changes to the landscape. When I was here in 1981 this place where we are sitting was a glacier. It’s interesting to come back to see how nature evolves.
6. We have seen a lot of tourists here this week. Is it a positive thing or does it have some negative effects?
I think it is positive because Ny Alesund is a fantastic place for tourists to see active research going on. It is good for the public to understand what we are doing.
7. What does the information that you gather from your plankton sampling tell us?
Plankton is affected by short term variations in water quality – water temperature and salinity. Kongsfjorden is an open Fjord and water from the west Spitsbergen current brings with it warm water species. In addition there are arctic species – arctic zooplankton. The difference in volume between the southern zooplankton, and the arctic zooplankton gives us an indication of whether the system is being affected or warmed up by Atlantic water. Basically we use zooplankton to determine whether the system is changing.
8. So have we found out anything particular on this voyage?
The findings from this voyage will add to our existing research. We tend to run at least one exploration per year and try to cover different seasons to get a broader range of findings.
9. OK, so we’re not going to go home from this week KNOWING that climate change has taken hold in the arctic?
No. To address the climate change question you really have to have findings from long term research to see if there are differences in the zooplankton data. We won’t see that from this trip - we will have to wait until we see the analysis of 10-15 years of data.
10. Can you use the plankton composition as an indicator of climate change?
Yes, we think that we can use both plankton composition and also the water mass composition in Kongsfjorden as a climate indicator. In fact, we think that Kongsfjorden as a whole can be used as a climate indicator - the Fjord is affected directly by climate variables with warm Atlantic water and cold arctic water, plus we have the zooplankton to help us in our research.
11. So this is what makes Kongsfjorden a centre for climate research?
It is certainly an advantage to have Ny Alesund located on the shores of Kongsfjorden. Ny Alesund used to be an old mining town and now is a research town.
12. We noticed what seemed to be a very well equipped new marine lab – do you want to tell us about your new marine lab?
The artic marine lab was recently opened by the Norwegian prime minister, and it really is a fantastic lab. It is furthest north laboratory in the world and is open for scientists to do marine biology research. Having such a wonderful lab located right beside Kongsfjorden opens up unique opportunities to do experimental research and answer questions based upon your field research in Kongsfjorden.
13. And is it just for Norwegian Scientists?
The lab is open for the international scientific community to use. Eight nations that have signed long-term contracts for this lab including countries like United States, China, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Italy and Norway of course. It is an international lab with an international research community open for researchers who want to come and conduct research there.