We investigated benthic foraminiferal assemblages in contaminated sediments in a subarctic harbor of northern Norway to assess their utility as indicators of anthropogenic impacts. Sediments in the harbor are repositories for POPs and heavy metals supplied through discharges from industry and shipping activities. Sediment contaminant concentrations are at moderate to poor ecological quality ...

Ice-stream dynamics are strongly controlled by processes taking place at the ice/bed interface where subglacial water both lubricates the base and saturates any existing, underlying sediment. Large parts of the former Eurasian ice sheet were underlain by thick sequences of soft, marine sediments and many areas are imprinted with geomorphological features indicative of fast flow and wet basal conditions. ...

Submarine landslides are major agents of sediment mass transfer from the shallow to deep sea. Due to their rapid emplacement and tsunamigenic potential, such landslides are significant geohazards for society and off- and on-shore infrastructure. The relationship between climate change and the occurrence of submarine landslides is widely debated. However, there is a lack of continuous long-term ...

Measurements of albedo are a prerequisite for modeling surface melt across the Earth’s cryosphere, yet available satellite products are limited in spatial and/or temporal resolution. Here, we present a practical methodology to obtain centimeter resolution albedo products with accuracies of ±5% using consumer-grade digital camera and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technologies. Our method comprises ...

Precise knowledge about the extent of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; c. 26.5–19 cal. ka BP) is important in order to 1) improve paleo-ice sheet reconstructions, 2) provide a robust empirical framework for calibrating paleo-ice sheet models, and 3) locate potential shelf refugia for Antarctic benthos during the last glacial period. However, reliable reconstructions ...

Localized tephra deposition in marine sequences is the product of many complex primary and secondary depositional processes. These can significantl y influence the potential applicability of tephra depos- its as isochronous marker horizons and current techniques, used in isolation, may be insufficient to fully unravel these processes. Here we demonstrate the innovative application of X-ray ...

The climate of the last glaciation was interrupted by numerous abrupt temperature fluctuations, referred to as Greenland interstadials and stadials. During warm interstadials the meridional overturning circulation was active transferring heat to the north, whereas during cold stadials the Nordic Seas were ice-covered and the overturning circulation was disrupted. Meltwater discharge, from ice sheets ...

Despite their high abundance and diversity, microfossil taxa adapted to a particular chemosynthetic environment have rarely been studied and are therefore poorly known. Here we report on an ostracod species, Rosaliella svalbardensis gen. et sp. nov., from a cold methane seep site at the western Svalbard margin, Fram Strait. The new species shows a distinct morphology, different from other ...

Noen veger blir stengt på ubestemt tid på grunn av snøskredfare. Dette er frustrerende for trafikanter og det skaper økonomiske konsekvenser for næringslivet. Statens vegvesen (SVV) har testet ut to teknologier for å detektere og varsle snøskred i sanntid; doppler radar og geofoner. Radaren bruker radiobølger for å måle retning og avstand til et objekt og kan dermed benyttes til å bestemme om skredet ...

As the title of the correspondence by Fossen et al. suggests, determining the age of landscape elements of the Earth surface is difficult. We thus welcome the opportunity to clarify our arguments on the contentious themes touched upon by Fredin et al.