Our research focuses on the response of high latitude ecosystems to climate change. Core research fields include greenhouse gas exchange, surface energy balance, permafrost, biogeochemistry and hydrology.
Below is a list of current research projects.
The aim of this project is to investigate the spatial and temporal patterns in methane and carbon dioxide concentrations, and the exchange of these gases between the land surface and the atmosphere in Arctic ecosystems. The project will integrate UAV-based observations of methane and carbon dioxide with existing data from the GEM program and high-frequency mapping of changes in vegetation and geomorphology.
Contact info: Ph.D. student Johan Scheller
The overall aim is to use data-model approaches to analyse the patterns of C exchange and their links to biological processes in Arctic ecosystems, studied in detail from a measurement and a modelling perspective. For this purpose, data from the Greenland Ecosystem Monitoring (GEM) database will be blended with established but novel modelling frameworks. The ambition is to show how data-model approaches can generate novel outputs allowing a deeper exploration of C cycling mechanisms and controls that otherwise would not have been possible to address individually. The envisioned efforts will focus on the following two working items:
1. Site-specific analyses at high temporal resolution using the SPA model together with GEM data from the Zackenberg site
2. Pan-Arctic analyses using the CARDAMOM data assimilation system as a technique to constrain our current understanding of the terrestrial Arctic C cycle.
Contact info: Post doc Efrén López-Blanco
In the course of this project, the bacterial community of several permafrost sites in Greenland will be accessed by high throughput next-generation sequencing and (environmental) DNA extractions. To understand the origin and fate of methanogens along a spatial soil gradient, respiratory and methanogenic potential will be investigated and put in relation with transcriptomic insights of the permafrost microbiome. Put in context with available data of the Greenland Ecosystem Monitoring (GEM database), the overarching aim is bridging the gap of knowledge between microscale Greenhouse gas emissions and the changing climate in the Arctic.
Contact info: Ph.D student Maria Scheel
Hiking down the slope of Aucella mountain (Photo: Magnus Lund)
