MARINE scientists have deployed robotic vehicles on a dangerous mission to the face of a glacier in Svalbard as they attempt to expose the hidden link in how rapidly melting Arctic ice is changing our ocean.

The mission to Ny Alesund, the world’s most northerly settlement, is a collaboration between the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), UiT The Arctic University of Norway, the Norwegian Polar Institute and University Centre in Svalbard. The team will examine the Kronebreen glacier in Kongsfjorden, measuring freshwater run-off as it melts and assessing how it interacts with sea water from the Atlantic.

Humans are unable to sample at the glacier face because of the risk of ice collapsing into the sea below, a process known as glacier calving.

Instead, the team will use an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) built by Norwegian company Maritime Robotics, to record various oceanographic measurements at the face of the glacier, while an autonomous underwater vehicle, known as an ecoSUB, will take temperature, salinity and oxygen readings below the surface. Aerial drones will survey freshwater “plumes” that run off the glacier.

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Lead scientist Professor Finlo Cottier of SAMS said: “Fjords are the connection between the changing ocean and our rapidly melting northern glaciers. The transfer of heat and water at these points, often just a few kilometres wide, are therefore extremely important in understanding how climate change is impacting our ocean.

“However, as these areas are too dangerous to survey fully and too small to be picked up on global ocean models, the interactions between fjords and glaciers have not been sufficiently represented in ocean and climate predictions.

“We need to know much more about fresh water coming into the ocean: How much is there? Where does it end up? How does it move?

“It would simply be too dangerous to go into such a hostile and remote environment with a boat. Not only is there a risk of falling ice, but large-scale calving causes huge waves, so it is a dangerous place. That is where the robotic systems come into their own, working at the front line of Arctic science.”