Ninja visits Troll station, learns first aid – and much more!

We were supposed to fly out to join the traverse team a week ago – but a big storm came in the way and we had to wait it out here at the station. Tomorrow, however, the weather is supposedly “flyable”, and – fingers crossed – we will leave Troll for five weeks on the ice. So tonight I’ve probably had my last shower of the year… and I’ve finished up a bunch of Ninja chapters for you to read!

NINJA VISITS TROLL

 

NINJA DOES SAFETY TRAINING

 

NINJA GOES HIKING

Skewed numbers at UiB

Couldn’t help but noticing the skewed numbers presented to the faculty board for natural sciences, UiB today… 75% of the permanent scientific staff hired last year were men, five out of six ERC consolidator grant to UiB in 2023 were won by men… at the same time, six out of seven ETPs (Excellent Teaching Practitions) announced by our faculty this spring were women… and so were eight out of ten board members present…

Sudden, local temperature increase above the continental slope in the southern Weddell Sea: new paper out

When Ninja and I was in the Weddell Sea two years ago, the CTD showed that the “Warm Deep Water” (WDW) above the upper part of the continental slope was 0.1C warmer than previously observed. We typically study the WDW because it threatens to melt the ice shelves, but the warm signal on the slope were not detected in the shelf moorings so the impact of the warming is likely not affecting the ice shelves directly. It will, however, likely imprint on the properties of the bottom water formed in the region. This water mass (Weddell Sea Bottom Water) forms as cold and dense Ice Shelf Water from the Filchner Trough descends the continental slope, and it consists of up to 60% WDW! The warm WDW would produce warmer (and hence lighter) bottom water, and the signal would be comparable to the (decadal) warming trend observed in the deep waters of the Weddell Sea.
Profiles of temperature (left) and salinity (right) from the continental slope east of the Filchner Trough (point in map)
You can read the full paper here!

 

A poster session at ECCWO5, or, why are we not SCREAMING?

The temperature has been rising slowly since I arrived at the conference hall; there are too many people and too little oxygen. Trying the get through the crowd and back to my poster on the effects of climate change on Norwegian sill fjords, I can’t help but think of all the dead crabs I saw in one of the presentations this morning. In an attempt to escape the anoxic waters at the bottom, they were concentrating on the highest point of the coral reef, climbing desperately on top of each other to get into oxygenated water, to breathe – but as the deadly water expanded, there where nowhere to go, no higher ground to climb to.

There is so much knowledge gathered in Bergen this week: PhDs, Post Docs, and Professors; experts on every aspect of the ocean and those living there. Ecosystem modeling, fish behavior, ocean acidification, primary production, sustainable management – the program is full of new science, new insights, and conclusions. Yet I’m wondering if they – if we – are able to fully grasp the consequences of the results presented. Because if we did, would we then be standing here, calmly sipping our wine or a cold beer, talking about project proposals, fieldwork plans, and old colleagues? If we did understand, would we not be out on the streets screaming, calling for attention, for help?

Molehills and gender at UiB

When being in a lecture hall at a conference I’m used to being surrounded by men –  a few female collegues would typically be sitting in the chairs closest by, but further away, mainly men.

Strangely enough, when attending UiB’s conference on Gender equity, the mean hair length in the audience is significantly higher than I’m used to.  The line of (very interesting) speaker has also (until now) been exclusively female…. I’ll leave you to think about why that is, and share my favorite slide so far:

The text is by Ingrid Anell, from https://blogs.egu.eu

 

Ninja goes printing – this time in Norwegian!

It’s here! The translated and “peer-reviewed” version of “Ninja goes south” is now printed… and about 2000 books are waiting (together with Petra Langebroek’s “Ninja goes to Groenland”) in the basement of the Bjerknes Centre to be distributed to school libraries in Vestland (as soon as the third and final book* is ready).

The project is financed by the Norwegian Research Council – and Petra and I are getting help from the communication office at Bjerknes, the “climate club” at Landås skole,  Bergen municipality, and of course, the invaluable assistance from UiB-student Marte Klemetsdal, who is putting it all together!

Ninja part 1 (Grønland) by my dear friend Petra Langebroek, and Ninja part 2 (Antarctica) by me! Now in Norwegian! The third part, where Ninja dives into the Norwegian fjords, is in the making!

I’m so excited to see this come through, and to actually hold the physical book in my hands! Slightly less excited about the typos that my daughter found in the book… but fingers crossed for a second edition where we can correct those – and there might be one! Bryggen museum has picked up on the Lego idea, and they are planning an exhibition later this year where Ninja (and I) will be part of a historical walk through Bergen and its scientific hubs. Ninja in a museum monter – I do look forward to seeing that!

 

* where Ninja dives into the Norwegian fjords

Sixty-five (small) reviewers!

Ninja and Dr. Elin visiting Landås skole (Photo: E. Darelius)

Ninja has been on a new adventure! This time he joined me on the bike down to Landås skole and their Climate club to hear what pupils in 6th grade had to say about “Ninja goes south“. We have now translated the book into Norwegian (thanks Marthe!), and I was eager – and a bit nervous! – to hear what the 65 “reviewers” had to say about it! In class last week they had all read, discussed and written about the book; what words did they not understand, what parts did they like best, what parts could be shortened and what did they want to know more about…   While there were a few critical reviews (who either did not care about Ninjas and therefor found the book utterly boring, or who did care about Ninjas but found this Ninja not to be enough Ninja-like) most of them were very positive: We loved the pancakes! Can you write more books, please? We learnt a lot about ice shelves / seals / Antarctica / moorings.

I think an editor would have landed on “minor revision”… so I’m now re-working the book with their comments in mind: less text in each “bubble”, more information about the seals, explain these words and so on…. Fingers crossed that the next version will be accepted!

The classes seemed convinced the book will be a success – and, for the first time in my life – I was asked to write autographs! There was even a queue!!!

Writing autographs for the first time in my life! Photo: Endre Tufteland

While visiting – I took the opportunity to introduced the ice-shelf game “Iceflows” (don’t blame me if you get addicted) …

Make your own iceshelf at www.iceflowsgame.com Photo: Endre Tufteland

…and off course to do my all time favorite melt-ice-cubes-in-salt-and-fresh-water-experiment!

The experiment with melting ice cubes works equally well at the Norwegian Academy of Science as on Landås skole! Photo: Endre Tufteland