SIPERG is in Norway! NSF, “Collaborative research: Exploring the role of oceanic and atmospheric forcing on Arctic marine climate from newly developed annual shell based records in coastal Norway.” Al Wanamaker and Maddie Mette (Iowa State University) have arrived at Ingøya and are eager to get working. Michael Carroll (Akvaplan-niva, Norway), Mike Retelle (Bates College, Maine), Julie Retelle (Bates College), Dan Frost (High School teacher at Thornton Academy, Maine), Sam Mark (Bates undergraduate), and Julia Savage (Bates undergraduate) round out the field crew. So far we have serviced the temperature/salinity buoys and tested the underwater camera – we’re good to go!
Dan and Michael service the buoys, cleaning off the kelp that has accumulated on the rope.
A very large algae bloom is causing very green waters here at Ingøya! – the greenest we have seen over the past few years. This is likely due to the very windy winter we had this year at Ingøya, mixing plenty of nutrients to surface waters for algae to grow. This limits visibility for our underwater cameras, but the clams are likely not complaining! Part of the reason why temperature largely modulates shell growth at Ingøya is because it influences the quality and quantity of food (manuscript in review). Data on primary productivity are very limited at Ingøya, so this year should provide some insight into the combined effects of food availability and temperature dynamics on shell growth.
Stay tuned for more updates. Be sure to check out Dan Frost’s blog – he will be posting more frequently: Frost in the Arctic