Dr Claire Mahaffey and the Liverpool team
Scientists from the University have set sail to the Barents Sea as part of the £10million research programme to study the impact of climate change on the Arctic ecosystem.
The team from the University’s School of Environmental Sciences are part of a 20 strong group of researchers from 16 UK research institutes who are joining forces to understand the knock on effects of rapid warming and sea ice loss in the Arctic region.
The NERC Changing Arctic Oceans research programme aims to generate a better understanding of the Arctic so models can more accurately predict future change to the environment and the ecosystem.
There are 76 scientists within the programme, and the University alongside the University of Leeds and the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) are lead investigators.
The Programme consists of four projects: the way change in the Arctic is affecting the food chain, from small organisms at the bottom to large predators at the top (ARISE); how warming influences the single main food source at the bottom of the food chain (DIAPOD); the effect of retreating and thinning sea ice on nutrients and sea life in the surface ocean (Arctic PRIZE); and on the ecosystem at the seafloor (ChAOS).
Dr Claire Mahaffey, from the University’s School of Environmental Sciences and leader of the ARISE project, said: “The ARISE project is looking at how environmental change affects Arctic food webs. To do this, we will use novel biological markers or ‘biomarkers’ present in marine animals and plants that record changes occurring in their habitat. By measuring these in seals at the top of the food chain and in phytoplankton and zooplankton at the base of the chain, we can gauge the extent to which the environment is responding to Arctic climate change.
“On this cruise, we are going to focus on the base of the food web, and we will be filtering lots of seawater to capture phytoplankton and zooplankton in the Barents Sea. The data we collect will contribute to larger datasets collected by our international collaborators across the Arctic. We will use the data in statistical and biogeochemical models to assess how much change has occurred in the food webs across the Arctic and the reasons for the change.”
Dr Jo Hopkins, from the National Oceanography Centre and Principal Scientific Officer on the research ship, said: “This is an exciting and ambitious first cruise that will collect a vast amount of information about Arctic water and sediments and the life that they support. Improving our understanding of how the Arctic ecosystem functions today will help us better predict and manage how it may change in the future.”
The Royal Research Ship (RRS) James Clark Ross will transport the team to the Arctic this summer returning back to Southampton on 15 August 2017.
Details of the cruise and the Changing Arctic Oceans research programme can be found at http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/funded/programmes/arcticocean/ and https://arcticarise.wordpress.com/