Looking back at a great #PAM26 conference 🦠🧫🧪🔬 Huge thanks to the organisers, and proud of our #GEUS research group for contributing 2 talks and 2 posters!

Fabulous start to 2026 - it’s been great fun to share some surprises from our sampling of Arctic glaciers as well as meet old friends and new at polar & alpine microbiology. Haribo served in whirlpaks is definitely on-brand if you’re a veteran fieldworker... #PAM26

"Today, Svalbard is the warmest place in the country!" Norwegian meteorologists reported on January 8

A message much better stated than I could say it, but which I try to give to ECRs I work with. There are seasons in research and sometimes it is harvest time, but sometimes the seeds are just sitting in the ground resting and waiting for Spring. www.joanwestenberg.com/the-harvest-...

So exciting to see these results. Hard to believe it’s been over a decade since I did my first short research project with Casper!

Night frost and a slow sunrise.

Autumn in Longyearbyen, Svalbard.

#CFP: "Cold altitudes: knowledge, imagination, and experiences of mountain ice" (May 11-12, 2026, Switzerland). Deadline: 31.10.2025 Info: networks.h-net.org/group/announ... #envhist #envhum #hstm #ecolit

Did you know tiny algae can "skate" within Arctic sea ice? ⛸️ Our new study in @pnas.org reveals the secret life of ice diatoms: they are actively gliding to navigate the ice! This adds a new dimension to the sea ice ecosystem, revealing an active, dynamic ecological niche. @prakashlab.bsky.social

Publication alert 🚨 doi.org/10.1111/mec.... Our new study in Molecular Ecology shows dwarf birch genetic diversity has been shaped by shifting ice sheets and climate transitions over the last 2.6 million years. This history may hold clues to how tundra shrubs face today’s rapid climate change ❄️🌱🧬🌡️

How do microbes become permanent partners? 🌊🔬🦠 Check out our new study published in Current Biology showing how cyanobacterial genomes evolve step-by-step into endosymbionts of diatoms. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @currentbiology.bsky.social @mehrshmali.bsky.social

Happy to share our new paper in L&O about autotrophic biofilms in subarctic lakes and streams 🦠 🏔️ @aslo.org aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Mer de Glace, Chamonix, earlier this week. The sad tarpaulin over the visitor glacier grotto shows how desperate it is to save this glacier. It also shows how hopeless it is. The only way to save the glaciers is to urgently cut carbon emissions.

Stromatolites! In 3D! Paleoproterozoic Nash Fork Formation in the Snowy Range, WY skfb.ly/pzFB8

Out Now: Humanimalia 15.2! Featuring timely essays on human–animal entanglements, including 🐴 a taxidermied horse in London, 🐗 a feral pig in Australia, 🐐 “happy” goats in Italy, 🐾 robot dogs in Gaza, 🐦 pheasants in NL, and 🐑 sheepdogs in the UK. 🔓 OA here: humanimalia.org/issue/view/1...

Melting over 80.6% of the area of the Greenland Ice Sheet. This is the highest value in our data set, which starts in 1981. @polarportal.bsky.social

🌊 “We may be witnessing a fundamental reorganisation of life around Antarctica. Tiny algae at the base of the Antarctic food web are changing in ways that could ... alter how the ocean helps regulate our climate.” — Dr Alex Hayward ▶️ aappartnership.org.au/shifting-fou...

Amid plastic waste and migrant slums, we meet Jan, an infectiously passionate Dutch biologist working for Coexphal, representing most fruit and veg producers. He’s spent his life promoting biological pest control— with success. Change is possible— when the industry demands it. www.theeuropeans.org

Life in a puddle: birds and photosynthetic microbial biofilms 🦆 🦠

In northern Norway, a significant ecological transformation is underway. Crowberry, a native evergreen plant, is spreading throughout the region, significantly altering the landscape and the ecosystem services it provides. Partner story by the Fram Centre

➡️ Check out our new data paper in GEUS Bulletin.

Earth system models are plagued by uncertainties in the response of microbes to climate change. We leveraged metabolic insights from genome scale models when coupled to an ocean model in this new exciting work 🌊 www.science.org/doi/full/10....

New data set out! 🧊🌊 Biogeochemistry from 28 meltwater rivers in SW Greenland (2017–2021) — nutrients, metals, sediments, microbes & more. Key for understanding climate-driven meltwater impacts. 🔗 geusbulletin.org/index.php/ge... #Arctic #ClimateScience #Biogeoche

Are you in Longyearbyen this weekend? Come and visit the Artica studio! www.articasvalbard.no/2025/open-st...

Back on Svalbard with Floortje Zonneveld for our project ‘Shadowing Without a Sunset’, hosted by Artica Svalbard ❄️

Understanding and adapting to environments that are now changing within a single lifetime requires more than natural scientific methods. The SVALUR and Catchment 2 Coast projects take advantage of the rich local knowledge of residents at Svalbard. Partner story by the Fram Centre

“Grief, like an apple tree, grows crooked not straight.” Each year I mark the day when this little apple tree first flowers, & remember my friend the writer Roger Deakin, who brought it back as a pip from Kazakhstan, then died soon after. Full story here: emergencemagazine.org/essay/east-t...

Just back from a trip to Tromsø with Polar Biology students! We explored Arctic resource management, went fishing in icy waters, snowshoed through snow-covered landscapes searching for animal tracks, and visited the Fram Centre to learn about polar research. So much more packed into this great trip.

Unesco World day of Glaciers. Currently this amazing project is recording sounds and music in glacier landscapes and caves in Svalbard. Svalbard is witnessing amplified climate warming and record losses in both Glacier Mass Balance and Sea ice. vimeo.com/1068032392?s...

Bravo, @sannemdt.bsky.social for a new study on microbial biofilm in Greenland streams across 3 regions. Highlights: 🟢 Cyanobacteria thrive even in the High Arctic 🌡️ P & water temperature are key drivers of biofilm growth ⛰️ Catchment slope & NO3 conc shape total biomass doi.org/10.1111/1758...

USAPECS's 9th Annual International Polar Film Festival (March 17-21) is live! Monday spotlights films on hydrology specific topics highlighting paths water take across our planet. Access all films, daily highlights, mini-blogs, & register for Friday's Roundtable: www.usapecs.org/polar-film-f...

Todays #lichen mundane Lecidella stigmatea from an old concrete wall. I haven't been lichen posting for some time - sorry.

🔬 New research! We studied epilithic biofilms in Greenlandic streams across a large climate gradient to uncover what shapes these microbial communities. Water temp, nutrients & catchment slope were key drivers! 🌍❄️🏔️ Curious? Full story ⬇️ enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

I followed this Rusaviska elegans #lichen for 1 year and 1 month, taking regular photos (with my cellphone). This is the preliminary result:

Excited to be an artist-in-residence at Artica Svalbard this spring with Floortje Zonneveld, working on our project Shadowing Without a Sunset. www.articasvalbard.no/future-resid...

I heard y'all wanted some nematodes? Here's one I filmed in Antarctica. Scottnema lindsayae, female, an endemic species. Video made possible thanks to support from the National Science Foundation (NSF). 🧪 🦠

Interested in making fieldwork safe and inclusive? Come to this European Geosciences Union webinar this Tuesday, tackling the topics of discrimination, harassment, and safety in fieldwork. The other speakers will be talking about their field safety training programmes which look excellent!

Last week, a group of polar biology students and I traveled to the Wadden Sea to explore it’s role as a crucial stopover for Arctic-breeding migratory birds. While in the field, we encountered nice wildlife and searched for 10-million-year-old marine fossils! #WaddenSea #MigratoryBirds #PolarBiology

The Netherlands Arctic Station (@unigroningen.bsky.social) is braving some intense storms up in Svalbard!

Last week, we had a productive workshop on Identifying Key Research Questions for #Arctic Freshwater Biodiversity at the University of Copenhagen with colleagues from 🇨🇦🇸🇪🇫🇮🇩🇰 and with co-funding from #IASC. Next step: writing a review paper!

We at Scientific American are delighted that this story just won a @sciencewriters.org award for commentary: www.scientificamerican.com/article/i-wo... 🧪

" In my opinion, institutions need to do much more to prepare field researchers for the unexpected. As I’ve experienced, thorough training and clear leadership can and will save lives." www.nature.com/articles/d41...