SHIFTS

MAIN OBJECTIVES: SHIFTS (Shifting Climate States of the Polar Regions)This cross-disciplinary research programme will collect and produce data on glacier variability throughout the last 10 000 years, a research effort that will be carried out in the polar regions of the World. Alpine glaciers represent natural systems that are particular sensitive to climate change and the sites chosen for this purpose are also located in areas that are witnessing rapid ongoing change including Spitsbergen and Sennalandet in Arctic Norway (northern hemisphere) as well as South Georgia and Kerguelen (southern hemisphere). Comparable datasets on glacier variability will provide new high-quality proxy-data on spatial, temporal, and scalar climate change through the Holocene. By doing so we will be able to construct accurate reconstructions of past shifts and trends in the major polar atmospheric circulation systems, as these are intimately linked to the physical activity of alpine glaciers. 

FUNDING: NFR

PROJECT PERIOD: 2011-2015

PROJECT COORDINATOR: Jostein Bakke (UiB)

WEB PAGE: https://www.uib.no/projects/shifts

PROJECT PARTNERS: UiB, UMASS, LAMONT

PEOPLE INVOLVED AT UIB: Jostein Bakke, Atle Nesje, Eivind Støren, Kristian Vasskog (Post Doc), Sædis Olafsdottir (Post Doc), Lea Toska Oppedal (PhD), Marthe Gjerde (PhD), Willem van der Bilt (PhD)