A day full of reflection – 3rd blog entry
The second day of fieldwork welcomes us with sunshine and moderate wind. On our way to the first sampling site, we are followed for some time by a sea tern (Sterna paradisaea) – a territorial bird that spends winters at the South Pole and summers at the North Pole, traveling more than 70 thousand km between the poles every year. We watch as it approaches in a straight line and grabs Marta’s hat! We are all in awe and wish it were possible to transfer what we saw as a video to a smart device and show it to others!
This year the expedition is joined by Christian Clauwers – a storyteller and photographer from Belgium, who actively raises awareness on climate change and captures it in stories, books, photographs and videos. Today he joined our boat to take footage of the sample collection and sees that our job is not only watering, but also throwing mud – every now and then he gasps as a piece of mud flies towards his camera!
Climate change is obvious in the polar regions – landscapes are changing, ecosystems disppear and animal species characteristic to the Arctic regions along with them. But nature does not like a vacuum, and something else appears in its place. Our research site – Eidembukta lagoon – is a clear example of the consequences of climate change and human activity. 90 years ago the current territory was covered by a glacier, whereas today it has retreated by more than 4 km. In the area previously covered by an ice sheet, a complex aquatic ecosystem has formed, which includes both connected and separate water bodies, and each of them with different inhabitants – from microscopic aquatic plants and animals to large mammals. Although the replacement of ecosystems is a natural process, it is currently occurring too quickly, preventing opportunity to adapt to the change. Glaciers are one of the most important elements in global climate regulation, so we feel the consequences of their disappearance not only in the polar regions, but also throughout the whole world – extreme natural events (for example, prolonged periods of drought, unexpected floods, large hail), warmer winters with a shorter snow cover period, and unusual weather conditions.
We collect sediment samples for microplastic analysis in the central part of the lagoon. In addition, we are also collecting samples for Dima, who will study microzooplankton. We had deployed three sediment traps in the central part of the lagoon last year, which we tried to find – unsuccessfully. With a sense of defeat and disappointment, we head ashore to meet the second group of researchers. We will try again in the upcoming days.
Project “MP-ARCTIC” is implemented with the support of Latvian Council of Science.
