In the southern Spitsbergen area, thermal and mineral waters are primarily
associated with subpermafrost deep circulation, being mixed with shallow circulation and
glacial waters. Four thermal springs, located in the region of Stormbukta (Sørkappland),
were studied and analyzed. In the thermal waters, the main cation is sodium, while the
main anions are chloride and bicarbonate. The temperatures of the mineral and thermal
waters range from 3.4 to 15.1°C. The pH values are between 7.43 and 8.41. The total
dissolved solids (TDS) content of the geothermal waters is in the range of 346–4031 mg/l
and the Olsok thermal spring has the highest TDS values. Based on the variation in
physicochemical characteristics, two thermal water types were distinguished in the study
area. The first type is associated with thermal waters originating from deep circulation
waters. The second type is associated with the thermal and mineral waters originating
from the mixture of subpermfrost hot brines with glacial waters.
This paper constitutes the sensitivity study of application the Polar WRF
model to the Svalbard area with testing selected parameterizations, including planetary
boundary layer, radiation and microphysics schemes. The model was configured, using
three one-way nested domains with 27 km, 9 km and 3 km grid cell resolutions. Results
from the innermost domain were presented and compared against measured wind speed
and air temperature at 10 meteorological stations. The study period covers two months:
June 2008 and January 2009. Significant differences between simulations results occurred
for planetary boundary layer (PBL) schemes in January 2009. The Mellor-Yamada-Janjic
(MYJ) planetary boundary layer (PBL) scheme resulted in the lowest errors for air
temperature, according to mean error (ME), mean absolute error (MAE) and correlation
coefficient values, where for wind speed this scheme was the worst from all the PBL
schemes tested. In the case of June 2008, shortwave and longwave radiation schemes
influenced the results the most. Generally, higher correlations were obtained for January,
both for air temperature and wind speed. However, the model performs better for June
in terms of ME and MAE error statistics. The results were also analyzed spatially, to
summarize the uncertainty of the model results related to the analyzed parameterization
schemes groups. Significant variability among simulations was calculated for January
2009 over the northern part of Spitsbergen and fjords for the PBL schemes. Standard
deviations for monthly average simulated values were up to 3.5°C for air temperature
and around 1 m s-1 for wind speed.
This article aims to analyse the influence of weather types on meteorological
conditions in Petuniabukta (Svalbard) during July and August of 2016. The paper analyses
the daily courses of air temperature and humidity at four measurement points located on
the west bank of Petuniabukta near Adam Mickiewicz University Polar Station during
two different types of weather conditions: (i) cloudy and windy, (ii) calm and clear.
These weather types, distinguished on the basis of wind speed and cloudiness, allowed
for the creation of composite maps of the synoptic situation (SLP and geopotential
height of 500 hPa distribution) and its anomalies. In the study area, the air temperature
range in windy and cloudy weather conditions was larger (-10°C to 15°C) than that in
sunny and calm weather (0°C to 15°C), which contrasts the range of humidity values.
The diurnal cycle of meteorological elements in sunny and calm days is strongly related
to the sun elevation angle. In the above-mentioned weather types, the air temperature
was higher by several degrees (median 5°C to 8°C) than on windy and cloudy days
(median about 0°C to 6°C) at each measurement point. On days with sunny and calm
weather, a smaller vertical temperature gradient of air is observed (for sunny and calm
days 0.63°C and for windy weather 0.8°C).
Diatom assemblages from small pools and creeks on the Ecology Glacier
forefield have been investigated. It is the first study in the Admiralty Bay region after
the thorough taxonomic revision of the non-marine Antarctic diatom flora. A total of
122 diatom taxa, belonging to 35 genera were identified. More than 55% of all observed
species have a restricted Antarctic distribution. Another 15% have a marine origin.
Nitzschia gracilis Hantzsch, N. homburgiensis Lange-Bertalot and Planothidium rostrolanceolatum
Van de Vijver et al. dominated the flora. Based on a DCA analysis,
samples were subdivided in three groups reflecting ecological differences. Several samples
(group 1) showed a mixed freshwater/marine diatom composition and are typical for
coastal pools. Two other groups were separated based on the amount of limnoterrestrial
taxa indicating the temporary character of some of the pools.
Climate change has been affecting plants over the last century and caused
changes in life history features such as the flowering time. Herbarium specimens provide
a snapshot of the past environmental conditions during their collection. The collection
date in a herbarium specimen is a good proxy to determine the flowering period (phenology).
In this study, phenological data from subarctic plant specimens collected over
100 years were gathered by using one of the largest herbarium databases in the World.
The collection dates of 7146 herbarium specimens were analyzed and significant shifts
in the phenology of subarctic plants were detected. In this study, most of the analyzed
142 species in a subarctic biogeographic region tended to flower earlier in the 1950–2018
period compared to the 1900–1949 as a possible result of the climate change. Flowering
time shifted from 8 to 26 days in some species. Changes in flowering time may
alter species interactions, community composition, and species distribution in a region.
Therefore, results of this study may shed light on the possible shifts in phenology and
plant responses under the climate change.
In polar regions, apart from tundra and glaciers, geothermally active areas
with elevated temperatures are important elements of ecosystems. One such geothermally
active region characterized by mosaic ecosystems and vast areas covered by recent lava
fields is Iceland. The aim of our study was to explore the diversity of invertebrates
inhabiting geothermally active lava fields in the Krafla area (Iceland). Eight bryophyte
samples were collected from a warm surface, mainly from the steaming areas. We have
found Nematoda, Rotifera, Tardigrada and Oribatida in the samples. Habitat analysis
demonstrated there to be 12 bryophyte species (five liverworts and seven mosses).
The diversity of bryophytes in a single sample ranged from one to six species. The
most common bryophyte was Racomitrium lanuginosum (Hedw.) Brid. Four species
of tardigrades were found, including one that was new. Pilatobius islandicus sp. nov.
is described herein by morphological, morphometric and molecular approaches (COI,
28S rRNA, 18S rRNA). Oribatida mites were identified as two species (Malaconothrus
monodactylus (Michael, 1888) and Camisia foveolata Hammer, 1955). The average density
of invertebrates was 13.1 ind./g with a maximum of 40.8 ind./g calculated per dry
material. The tardigrades found in our study belonged to herbivores, microbivores and
omnivores, whereas the mites belonged to saprophages, which indicates complex trophic
networks in geothermally active lava fields.