JANUARY 2007
24. 01. 2007 Vacant position at UNIS
Currently UNIS has the following vacant position:
Title: Ph.D. position in Arctic Environmental Technology Deadline 15.02.2007
19.01. 2007 Workshop Announcement and Call for Papers
High Latitude Terrestrial and Freshwater Ecosystems: Interactions and
Response to Environmental Change
11-14 September 2007
Abisko, Sweden
Abstract Submission Deadline: Monday, 30 April 2007
16. 01. 2007 Vacant position
2-year postdoctoral position in glaciology/atmospheric sciences
The Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) is Norway's central institution for research, environmental monitoring and mapping of the polar regions. NPI is the Norwegian authorities' consultant and supplier of knowledge, and contributes to the best possible administration of Norwegian polar areas. Approximately 115 persons are employed at NPI in Tromsø, Svalbard and Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica (DML).
FEBRUARY 2007
06.02.2007 Postdoctoral Fellowship Available
Sea Ice Forecasting
U.S. National/Naval Ice Center
The U.S. National/Naval Ice Center (NIC) seeks to fill a postdoctoral
fellowship position, through the University Corporation for Atmospheric
Research (UCAR) Visiting Scientist Programs, to assist in the
development and implementation of new sea ice forecasting techniques.
MARCH 2007
07. 03. 07 UNIS celebrated the opening of the IPY 2007-08 from early morning until late evening, with seminars, speeches and artwork.
The IPY was officially opened world-wide in Paris at 11 GMT. In Longyearbyen IPY was opened at 11.30 by the director of UNIS, Gunnar Sand and the Governor of Svalbard, Per Sefland. Among the audience were also the General Director of Trust Arktikugol, Mr. Aleksandr Veselov; the Consul of the Russian Federation on Spitsbergen, Mr. Vjatsjeslav Nikolajev; and the Mine Director in Barentsburg, Mr. Boris I. Nagajuk.
28.03.07 An Arctic Geology Summer
Study cryosphere and Quaternary geology in Svalbard (4 courses totalling 40 ECTS).
The Geology Department at The University Centre in Svalbard, UNIS, celebrates the International Polar Year by offering a full summer package of 4 courses at master/Ph.D. level in cryosphere and Quaternary research, from 18 June to 1 October. Course activities are linked to several IPY projects in Svalbard.
20.03. 07 Study at UNIS in the fall?
Application deadline is 15. April
APRIL 2007
24.04.07 Vacant positions at UNIS
Deadline
Faculty position in Marine and Coastal Geology 15.05.2007
Ph.D. position in Arctic Technology - Ice mechanics 18.05.2007
Ph.D. position in Arctic Biology - Botany 24.05.2007
Faculty position in Arctic Infrastructure & Geotechnical Eng. 01.07.2007
23.04.07 PhD Position Available
Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research (BCCR)
Bergen, Norway
The Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research in Bergen, Norway invites
applications for a three-year PhD position to begin in Autumn 2007. The
successful applicant will study the development of extreme weather in
the polar region and its implication on air-sea interaction in the
climate system. The study will make use of a simplified coupled system
where a mixed layer model for the ocean and a wave model will be coupled
to an atmospheric component.
Application form is found here
MAY 2007
10.05.07 Successful Permafrost course
The new UNIS course, Permafrost and Periglacial Environments, concluded last week. The course, where students from seven nations participated, has been a success.
UNIS Geological Department celebrated the opening of IPY by launching two new graduate courses this year. One of them is the AG-330 Permafrost and Periglacial Environments course. This 10 ECTS credits course was run as an intensive course from Easter to May 4th. The course was attended by students from seven nations: Norway, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Finland and Japan. Associate Professor Hanne H. Christiansen has been responsible for developing this course and has been the UNIS coordinating lecturer on the course.
08.05.07 PhD Position Available
Quaternary Geology
Department of Geology
University Centre in Svalbard
Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway
Application Deadline: Monday, 4 June 2007
For further information, please go to:
30.05.2007 Norway plans building of new research vessel
Norwegian research environments have joint forces in a bid for the construction of a new advanced research vessel. The vessel, which will have a price tag of about 500 million NOK (63 million EUR), will be able to operate in polar ice and be vital for enhanced marine research, as well as research on oil and gas resources and environment and climate.
14.05.07 Warmer Gulf stream waters melt fjord ice on Svalbard
For the first time the warm West-Spitsbergen current is appearing near the surface at 79° N. This means that the fjord ice on Svalbard is disappearing at great speed. The observations were made at a recent UNIS geophysics cruise.
25. 06. 2007 UNIS research presented at 4th International Zooplankton Production Symposium in Hiroshima
UNIS Post-Doc Claudia Halsband-Lenk was recently invited to Japan to present her first results from a NFR-sponsored project exploring variability patterns in life history traits of important plankton organisms.
01. 06. 2007 Ocean monitoring program explains the intrusion of warm water in West Spitsbergen fjords
The ocean monitoring program in Isfjorden, Kongsfjorden and the shelf areas along West Spitsbergen have shown that during the winter 2005/06, periods of sustained northerly winds generated cross-shelf exchange causing extensive flooding of the coastal waters with warm Atlantic Water from the West Spitsbergen Current (the last leg of the Gulf Current system). The seawater winter temperature of the West Spitsbergen Shelf and fjords reverted to that typically of fall, interrupting the normal cycle of ice formation in the region.
22. 10. 2007
Polar bear, climate change and terror
Is the safety aspect different now than before? This is one of the questions to be analyzed at the safety course that UNIS, together with the University in Tromso, is arranging in Longyearbyen next week.
Svalbard as a destination is currently more accessible than it was just a few years back, both geographically and in the media. Does this affect how people, who work with safety issues in Svalbard, think?
Climate change a new dimension
The term “safety” is often associated in connection with terror. We are faced daily with strict security controls at airports and sport events, restricted access to harbors, etc. In Svalbard, safety as a concept has always implied much more. However, is the expertise about safety in the Arctic, acquired through years of experience, really enough? The current climate change in the Arctic gives the safety aspect at Svalbard a new dimension.
26. 09.2007
UNIS will introduce a new study and research field in 2008:
5. 07. 2007
Position Announcement
Director, Byrd Polar Research Center
The Ohio State University
Application review ongoing until position is filled.
For further information, please go to:
26. 10. 2007
Earth is setting the agenda for climate change
Dr. James Lovelock, originator of the Gaia theory and First Holder of the Arne N?ss Chair in Global Justice and the Environment, made a special appearance at the traditional UNIS lunch seminar on October 24.
Around 130 people had come to hear this notability in climate science present his views on creative adaption to climate change. The seminar was sponsored by Centre for Development and the Environment at University of Oslo, Basecamp Explorer Foundation and UNIS.
