Arctic Geophysics

Arctic Geophysics research at UNIS

From deep sea to outer space

The research at the UNIS Arctic geophysical department spans over a vertical range from the depths of the ocean through snow and ice covered land, and the entire atmospheric column to the solar winds in outer space.

The emphasis is on geophysical phenomena in Polar regions with implications for global currents in the ocean and atmosphere, and radiative processes in the atmosphere and on the ground. These issues are all pertinent in connection with environmental and climatic change questions.

The department divides its research into two main focus areas:

Middle and Upper Atmosphere

One group studies middle and upper atmospheric processes focusing on combined radar and optical measurements of these. The completion of the Kjell Henriksen Observatory (KHO) – the new aurora observatory – has provided UNIS and other visiting groups from around the world with excellent facilities for studying the aurora borealis and other optical phenomena of the polar night sky.

All research projects studying the middle- and upper polar atmosphere at UNIS mainly utilizes the space related research infrastructure on Svalbard, especially KHO with optical instrumentation and the EISCAT Svalbard Radars (ESR), for studies of auroral-related processes in the ionosphere and magnetosphere. In addition, data from other observational platforms such as satellites and in-situ sounding rockets are used.

Air–Cryosphere–Sea Interaction (ACSI)

The second group studies boundary layer dynamics between sea, ice, land and lower atmosphere, focusing on improved parameterisations of interaction processes for climate models.