Abstract: The TUKISIK (Tukisigasuaqatigit: Understanding together) is a scientific program, ongoing since 2014, concerning human-environment interactions, reinforcing links between scientists and several communities.

Abstract:

Arctic coastal areas can experience higher erosion rates than temperate regions due to the combined influence of seasonal permafrost melt and extreme temperatures. In addition to these ordinary dynamics, high latitude coastal areas are even more affected by climate-induced changes such as increased weather hazards, rising temperatures or changes in river discharges and sediment supply.

The Svalbard region consists of an archipelago of Arctic islands and a rocky and sandy coastline chiseled by numerous fjords connected to glaciers and a complex hydrographic network. Highly sensitive and exposed to the impacts of climate change, this coastal area is a perfect witness to the environmental changes of our century.

The Svalbard Archipelago has recently become a key hotspot with an increasing number of studies, mainly focusing on glacier melt, temperature change or soil destabilization. The environmental, geographical, and geomorphological conditions of Svalbard make it extremely difficult to monitor coastal change on a large-scale. However, several studies, including Lim et al. (2020), Jaskolski et al. (2018), and Sisneros-Kidd et al. (2019), have highlighted the strong pressure of climate change, population, and human activities on the Svalbard coastal area.

This littoral is fully in line with our approach to apprehend the past, present, and expected consequences of climate change on the environment and populations.

In close collaboration with local researcher Maria Jensen from the University of Svalbard (UNIS) and other experts in France (Agnès Baltzer and Franck Garestier), we have explored the potential of the Copernicus Programme satellite images to produce key information on the past and recent dynamics of nearly 300 km of coastline on the archipelago. This is a major challenge, given the complexity of the environment and the meteorological and climatic conditions of the region, which limit the volume of usable spatial data (cloud cover and seasonal ice on the monitored sediments).

After a first phase of adapting the algorithms to our developments, we extracted the coastline over 25 years, as well as the evolution of the banks and the extent of the hydrographic network along several major fjords in Svalbard. Particular attention was given to Advenfjorden to improve our effort, due to the greater availability of data to validate our results. We experienced the bathymetric monitoring into the fjord. This information was one of the most complex challenge in terms of methodology and algorithm development regarding the environmental context, but it is also a crucial insight to consider the full climate change impact on coastal sediment dynamics. Finally, we extracted another coastal indicator to focus on changes in the deltaic areas, namely the pioneer vegetation coverage, which reveals the impact of warming on these highly dynamic regions.

For the first time, we present our new results issued from these investigations.

Abstract: The Green Edge project was designed to investigate the onset, life and fate of a phytoplankton spring bloom (PSB) in the Arctic Ocean. The lengthening of the ice-free period and the warming of seawater, amongst other factors, have induced major changes in arctic ocean biology over the last decades. Because the PSB is at the base of the Arctic Ocean food chain, it is crucial to understand how changes in the arctic environment will affect it. Green Edge was a large multidisciplinary collaborative project bringing researchers and technicians from 28 different institutions in seven countries, together aiming at understanding these changes and their impacts into the future. The fieldwork for the Green Edge project took place over two years (2015 and 2016) and was carried out from both an ice-camp and a research vessel in the Baffin Bay, canadian arctic. This paper describes the sampling strategy and the data set obtained from the research cruise, which took place aboard the Canadian Coast Guard Ship (CCGS) Amundsen in spring 2016. The dataset is available at https://doi.org/10.17882/59892 (Massicotte et al., 2019a).