14. Nov 2019

Climate change is leading to increases in the flux of freshwater, sediments, organic matter (OM) and nutrients across the Arctic land-ocean interface. However, despite the biogeochemical, ecological and economic importance of the Arctic coastal zone, key processes and interactions at freshwater-marine transition zones remain relatively poorly understood. The FreshFate project seeks to address these knowledge gaps by carrying out a detailed study of the physical and biological consequences of freshwater inputs in an Arctic river estuary. The project pairs detailed field observations with experiments focused on the physical and biological processes occurring within the Adventelva river plume. We will also link our field observations and experimental results to satellite and in situ sensor-based observations, thus providing important ground-truthing data for future use of these approaches in coastal research. The FreshFate project will improve our ability to assess potential impacts of projected future increases in freshwater inputs to Arctic coastal waters.