Radio-echo soundings of sub-polar glaciers with low-frequency radar

Air-borne radio-echo soundings of sub-polar glaciers in Svalbard have previously been carried out by Soviet scientists using high frequency radar units of 620 and 440 MHz. Later a British/Norwegian group made soundings with 60 MHz equipment. The high frequency radar units seemed to underestimate the ice thicknesses. The 60 MHz radar unit seemed to give more accurate results when compared to areas with gravity surveyed bed. However, both the Soviet and the British equipment seldom recorded bed-echoes in accumulation areas where firn soaking during summer and thus zero temperatures are likely to occur. A low-frequency impulse radar unit of 8 MHz, however, recorded bed echoes in these areas too. In the accumulation area of Kongsvegen depths down to 440 m were recorded. The glacier bed is thus close to sea level at approximately 12 km from the calving front. Soundings were carried out on Brøggerbreen. Lovenbreen and Kongsvegen. Subglacial maps were generated from the data. Internal reflections that were probably caused by englacial drainage channels could be observed. Frequent internal reflections close to the bed could be interpreted as an indication of temperate ice. However, we could not find any distinct upper level of these reflections.     

Glaciation development and interstadial sea-level on central Spitsbergen, Svalbard

Above the marine limit in Gangdalen, Nordenskiold Land, a 20 m thick sequence of unconsolidated sediments occurs. On the top of striated bedrock it is composed of a 2m thick till bed, 15m gravel interpreted to be deposited as a sandur, and another till bed on the top. A solifluction deposit is capping the section. Fabric analyses and erratics in the two tills indicate a similar development in glacial transport directions during the two glaciations, starting with a local glaciation which subsequently turns into a larger glaciation centred over the eastern part of Svalbard. Co-existence of different ice domes over Spitsbergen is suggested. The sandur was deposited during an ice free period with a sea-level 40–80 m higher than at present. The section is undated.     

Radiocarbon dated common mussels Mytilus edulis from eastern Svalbard and the Holocene marine climatic optimum

The common mussel Mytilus edulis is an indicator of milder marine conditions in the Arctic, with stronger Atlantic Water influx, during the Holocene and earlier interglacials. Twelve Holocene radiocarbon dates of mytilus from eastern Svalbard fall between ca 8800 and 5000 BP and roughly delimit the marine climatic optimum period there. The beginning of this period in the east coincides with the immigration of boreal extralimital molluscs to western Svalbard, indicating the culmination of Holocene Atlantic influence.     

COMPUTER-GENERATED MULTICOMPONENT CALIBRATION DESIGNS FOR OPTIMAL ANALYSIS SAMPLE PREDICTIONS

This paper utilizes variable step size generalized simulated annealing(VSGSA)to design multicomponentcalibration samples for spectroscopic data.VSGSA is an optimization procedure which is capable ofconverging to exact positions of global optima located on multidimensional continuous functions.On thebasis of analysis sample response vectors,optimally designed calibration concentration matrices areobtained assuming knowledge of components present.The complexity of response surfaces establishedby the optimization criteria is described.     

Glacier mass balance investigations in the balance year 1986-87

Storbreen in southern Norway has been measured continuously since 1949. The mean specific net balance -0.29 m water equivalents. In 1987, however, the net balance was 0.32 m, which is the highest surplus in twenty years. The results of the whole period are given in Table 1
In Svalbard the summer of 1987 was unusually cold, which resulted in the first year with positive net balance on Brøggerbreen and Lovénbreen since the measurements started in 1968, The net balance was 0.22 m and 0.24 m, respectively, while the average is -0.43 m and -0.34 m.
Measurements at Kongsvegen in the inner part of Kongsfjorden started in 1987. The work was concentrated along the central flow line. The result was a positive net balance of 0.50 m.     

Sandwiched fossils

A little-known mode of fossil preservation-bioimmuration-is responsible for exciting new findings of soft-bodied organisms. Bioimmuration results from organic overgrowth by animals such as serpulid worms and oysters which form natural moulds of the organisms they have overgrown on their undersurfaces or sandwich overgrown organisms between themselves and their substrate. Overgrowth is a routine occurrence among the many marine organisms lacking mobility, and bioimmured fossils can be extremely common. Discoveries of bioimmured ctenostome bryozoans, hydroids and other soft-bodied animals that lived attached to hard surfaces are providing important new palaeontological perspectives, especially in the Mesozoic.     

Assessment of a field incubation method estimating primary productivity in rockpool communities

An open incubation method has been used in many studies to directly estimate primary productivity and ecosystem functioning by measuring photosynthetic and respiratory rates in intertidal rockpool communities. The method measures changes in dissolved oxygen concentrations recorded in situ during an artificial dark period (respiration) and a natural light period (net primary productivity). Although this method has yielded interesting results, its advantages and limitations have yet to be thoroughly tested. The accuracy of the method was investigated in a controlled laboratory environment and compared with field incubations. Atmospheric oxygen diffusion across the air–water interface did not affect incubation measurements under low wind speed (<2 m s⁻¹). Temperature increases during incubations were not greater than in natural rockpools and did not affect primary productivity. The major problem was the oxygen supersaturation which inhibited photosynthesis, thus leading to an underestimation of primary production. To allow comparable measurements, net primary productivity needs to be recorded during the linear phase of the photosynthetic process (<30 min of light) before water reaches supersaturation (<160%). This method gives rapid and reliable estimates of primary productivity thereby allowing biodiversity and ecosystem functioning relationships to be tested using rockpools as natural mesocosms.