Gestafyrirlesari frá Háskólanum í Tromsö
Miðvikudaginn 27. september mun Stig Falk-Petersen prófessor halda erindi á
málstofu Hafrannsóknastofnunar sem nefnist: Productivity hotspots due to
upwelling along Arctic shelves – Climate, wars, society and return of
Bowhead whales. Erindið verður flutt í fyrirlestrarsal á jarðhæð á Skúlagötu 4, kl.
12:15-13:15. Öll velkomin.
Stig Falk-Petersen er sérfræðingur við Akvaplan-niva stofnunina í Noregi og
prófessor við Háskólann í Tromsö í Noregi. Hann hefur langa reynslu af
rannsóknum á vistfræði sjávar, einkum á norðlægum slóðum, þar sem hann
hefur m.a. rannsakað líf- og vistfræði lykiltegunda, fitubúskap lífvera í
hafinu og áhrif hnattrænna umhverfisbreytinga á starfsemi sjávarvistkerfa.
Stig hefur leitt fjölmörg norsk og alþjóðleg rannsóknaverkefni. Hann var
rannsóknastjóri Akvaplan í mörg ár og er einn stofnenda ARCTOS rannsókna
netsins, en það gegnir mikilvægu hlutverki í samband við menntun ungra
vísindamanna og kynningu á rannsóknaniðurstöðum. Eftir hann liggja um 150
vísindaritgerðir, þar af um 45 síðustu fimm ár.
Í erindi sínu mun Stig fjalla um hvalveiðar í sögulegu samhengi, m.a. örlög
norðhvals í Norðurhöfum, og hvernig hnattrænar loftslagsbreytingar hafa
haft áhrif á samfélög manna og samskipti þjóða.
Ágrip
Erindið verið flutt á ensku og fer ágrip þess hér á eftir:
Productivity hotspots due to upwelling along Arctic shelves – Climate,
wars, society and return of Bowhead whale
The first oil boom in Europe was related to whaling north of Spitzbergen
(Svalbard) from the 16th century. From ship logs, expeditions, and later
airplanes and satellites, a long series (1579-2015) of estimated ice edge
positions between Svalbard and Franz Josef Land has been determined. This
period cover a long period with climate change, wars and socital changes.
In this talk I will discuss the fate of the Bowhead whale, but also show
some examples of how climate change influence wars and the socity.
The area North of Svalbard has probably been ice covered during winter in
the period from approximately 1790 until the 1980s; a period during which
heavy ice condition have prevailed in the Barents Sea and Svalbard waters.
We suggest that reduction of sea ice and the upwelling of nutrient-rich
waters seen during winter along the shelf brake create a conditions
similar to those that occurred during the peak of the whaling period (1690
to 1790), and that this combination of physical features was the driving
force behind the high production regimes that supported the large
historical stock of bowheads in this area. The earliest commercial whaling
took place at the beginning of the seventeenth century in Arctic waters
near Spitsbergen. This harvest targeted the stock of bowhead whales
(Balaena mysticetus), which was hunted almost to extinction by around 1800.
The main food supporting the extraordinary density of whales is thought to
have been energy-rich arctic Calanus species, which must have occurred in
numbers vastly greater than those documented during the last 100 years,
creating a paradox as to how this food web functioned. This paradox now
appears to be solved.
