The Arctic is in constant motion. Water masses, nutrients, gases and even heat circulate continuously between Greenland’s fjords and Baffin Bay. Although many of these movements occur out of sight — mixed by winds or carried by ocean currents — they shape ecosystems and influence the global climate.
Within the Physics and Chemistry research cluster, scientists use chemical tracers and physical measurements to follow these dynamics. By combining observations of radionuclides, water isotopes, nutrients and dissolved gases, they track how freshwater spreads through fjords and how it affects seawater acidity, nutrient supply and the exchange of heat and salts. Continuous measurements help reveal how water masses move and mix, and how these processes influence carbon storage, nitrogen cycling and primary production.
Another focus of the group concerns the early stages of sea-ice formation, when frazil ice and grease ice appear and disrupt the exchanges of heat and momentum between the ocean and the atmosphere. Understanding these physical transitions is key to clarifying how the Arctic transfers heat, carbon and nutrients to the North Atlantic — and how increasing freshwater inputs may alter large-scale circulation patterns.
Together, these approaches aim to offer a clearer picture of how the Arctic’s physical and biogeochemical systems are connected, how they are evolving under a warming climate and what this means for ecosystems and the global climate.
Outcomes:
- Tracking how freshwater spreads and transforms: identifying the pathways of glacial meltwater, sea-ice melt and precipitation as they flow through fjords and into Baffin Bay.
- Revealing the movement of heat, nutrients and gases: showing how water masses mix and how these exchanges shape acidity, productivity and greenhouse gas fluxes.
- Improved understanding of Arctic–Atlantic connections: providing the measurements needed to assess how changing freshwater inputs and sea-ice processes influence wider ocean circulation and the global climate system.
Research Projects:
- CARAMBAR – Source-to-sink carbon transfer using carbonate system parameters, oxygen, and radium isotopes
- FjordOC – Tracing organic matter across Greenlandic fjords
- MIZOF – Marginal ice zone dynamics during ocean freeze-up
- NITRO-BAFFIN – Nitrous Oxide (N2O) biogeochemistry in Baffin Bay
- REMAP – Revealing marine particle dynamics in West Greenland
- TRACE-WGC – Tracing heat, nutrient and freshwater transfers and primary production along the West Greenland Current
- Uncertain-Sinks – Benthic carbon cycling and storage in Arctic fjords
- Uncertain-Seas – Zooplankton and fish in the biological carbon pump
- WATERPRINTS – Investigating freshwater export and intermediate water formation in Baffin Bay