INTAROS Project

In Svalbard the mountains, the former friends and protectors of the community, have become the "enemy". Lisbeth Iversen (NERSC), representing the INTAROS project and students from Amalie Skram High School in Bergen, Norway, as part of the Regimes project, tell us about the first day of their field trip meeting community members in Svalbard. Tuesday the 8 th of August 2017 we visited the Longyerbyen school and had the opportunity to ask questions about everyday life at school  in Longyerbyen, about  challenges like heavy rainfall, avalanches, melting permafrost, ice-free fjords etc. We were told that Longyerbyen has changed a lot over the years, from a society based on mining and industry, lacking a local political management, to a society with a local council or board of politicians, established in 2007. Many people nowadays want to stay here also after they retire, and even some young people who spent their childhood here, are coming back to study or work.

Scott Davidson, from the University of Sheffield realises his childhood dream of going to the Arctic. In this piece Scott tells us of the ups and downs of doing fieldwork on vegetation methane emissions in the Alaskan Arctic tundra, where he spent four months in 2014. I arrived in Barrow (now known as Utqiaġvik), Alaska in May 2014 to undertake field research for my PhD based at the University of Sheffield, UK. Barrow is located at approximately 71 degrees north of latitude (500 km above the Arctic Circle), bordering the Arctic Ocean. When I arrived I had a vague idea of what to expect but this was completely thrown out of the window as soon as I stepped off the plane. Utqiaġvik (Barrow) is the most northerly city in the United States (population approx. 4200) A childhood dream Throughout my childhood the Arctic always completely fascinated me and the chance to go to Alaska for 4 months was an incredible opportunity. My PhD looks at the role of vegetation in