Collaboration on board R/V Skagerak boosts marine research
In a rapidly changing world, the need for collaboration is growing. Not least in marine research. This was evident during the R/V Skagerak's recent expedition to Svalbard, which brought together researchers from different disciplines, including Belgian oceanographer Coraline Leseurre. She believes that sharing knowledge is often the way to find answers - And she is looking forward to the further development of a collaboration that began on board.
Oceanographers, biogeochemists, marine chemists and marine geologists - when the R/V Skagerak left Gothenburg in August to travel up the Norwegian coast towards Svalbard, it was a ship packed with researchers from many marine disciplines.
Unexpected results
Coraline Leseurre, an oceanographer specialising in marine biogeochemistry, works at the Flanders Marine Institute in Belgium (VLIZ).
She travelled to Svalbard on the R/V Skagerak to work on a Horizon Europe-funded research project that aims to understand how greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide and methane from marine areas are affected by factors such as glacier runoff and sea ice.
'This is something that can give us a better basis for climate models and thus predict the consequences of climate change,' Coraline Leseurre says.
The almost month-long expedition on board R/V Skagerak has given her the opportunity to make continuous measurements of carbon dioxide and methane along the Norwegian coast and up in Svalbard, and the first analyses are already showing interesting results.
'We have unexpectedly high concentrations of methane in surface water from an area in Storfjorden, Svalbard, and even higher concentrations near a glacier with a marine distribution, which we need to look at more closely,' says Coraline Leseurre.
New collaborations
The expedition on board R/V Skagerak was a success, says Coraline Leseurre. She sees the opportunities for collaboration on board as a positive aspect. Having researchers from different fields bringing their specific expertise to bear on such complex marine processes increases the potential for further research, she believes.
For example, she initiated a collaboration with researcher Tobia Politi from the University of Gothenburg. He was part of an international research team on board R/V Skagerak studying emissions of the greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide in Norwegian fjords (read more: Expedition to study greenhouse gases in fjords).
'We got on really well. It was a great opportunity for us to work together and compare our instruments for continuous measurement of greenhouse gases,' Coraline Leseurre says.
In this way, the researchers were able to ensure accurate and comparable data, says Tobia Politi, who believes that the diverse environment of fjords makes them fascinating, but also complicated.
'Fjords are distinctive coastal environments with unique characteristics, such as their deep, narrow structure, steep sides, and often anoxic bottom waters. These unique features create a complex interplay between biological, chemical, and physical processes. Therefore it is easy to setup multidisciplinary activities for these environments.' Tobia Politi says.
Now the plan is to continue the new collaboration.
'We have already planned to discuss our respective results together once they have been analysed. It is a great opportunity to combine measurements of surface water, water column and sediment in the two fjords, Fensfjorden and Masfjorden, where we took measurements,' says Coraline Leseurre.
And she believes that it is this kind of collaboration that strengthens marine research.
'The exchange of knowledge between researchers can be really important. The ocean has so many different complex processes and we need to work together to learn more about how it really works. That's how we can move forward,' says Coraline Leseurre.
Text: Agnes Faxén
