Alanna Grant, ECR, from UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology hosted a BIOPOLE special session at the  Arctic Science Summit Week in Edinburgh in March 2024. The session focused on the work completed by WP1 in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, in July 2023. Presentations were given by Bryan Spears, Alanna Grant, Amy Pickard, Kate Hendry, Justyna Olszewska, and Isabelle Fournier and the session was chaired by Rebecca McKenzie. Interpreted results were presented from analysis of greenhouse gases, metals, algae process experiments, and physical and bio-optical properties of Kongsfjorden. River discharge was highlighted as a crucial knowledge gap, and ideas were discussed as to how this could be solved in the future. The session attracted a multi-national audience and provided a great opportunity to share our results with the wider arctic research community and foster new networking and collaboration opportunities.  

The second part of the session saw invited speaker, Peter Nienow from the University of Edinburgh, present on his previous work in Greenland. This was the basis for a productive interactive discussion amongst session members relating to how BIOPOLE could expand its arctic efforts into Greenland whilst providing maximum scientific impact and value.  

The author of the article – Alanna Grant from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology