Venue: Greenland Institute for Natural Resources, Nuuk, Greenland

Organized in a collaboration between Aarhus University, Greenland Institute for Natural Resources, University of Oulu, Oslo, Copenhagen and Helsinki Universities

 

ECTS credits:

3

 

Course parameters:

Language: English

Level of course:  PhD level, but master students as well as other participants from indigenous groups or local organizations working on the topic are welcome to apply.

Time of year: 12-19 June 2023.

No. of contact hours/hours in total incl. preparation, assignment(s) or the like: 60

Capacity limits: 12 participants

Students accepted to the course will obtain a predefined travel allowance of up to DKK 10.000 covered by UArctic. Accommodation in Nuuk is covered by the organizers.

 

Objectives of the course:

Building on long-term ecosystem monitoring data from Greenland the BEFLUX network and summer schools provide a platform for research training on the topic of arctic ecosystem functioning in relation to large scale climate variability and change. Focus are on greenhouse gas exchanges but a wide range of other ecosystem parameters will be considered as well. This course in Greenland will have the objective of providing a broad view on ecosystem-climate interactions and foci will include also social aspects and local community perspectives on the ecosystems and their functioning as observed using long term monitoring.

 

Learning outcomes and competences:

This course provides the following for the individual student:

• The student gets further knowledge about climate change as a scientific phenomenon, and how it interacts with and influences natural arctic ecosystems.
• The student is able to summarize changes in the Arctic nature and the effects of climate change based on multiple years of monitoring data.
• The student is able to look at climate change from an in depth perspective and make connections between the environment and climate and can make implications about how changes will affect locally and beyond.
• The student can understand differences in field measurement (in situ), laboratory (ex situ) and modelling approaches.
• Students can reason and discuss around challenges/possibilities offered by climate change for natural ecosystem functioning, biodiversity and also human settlements in the Arctic.

Compulsory programme:

Active participation including prereading and a written individual workshop report.
 

Course contents:

The course consists of lectures, discussion groups and excursions to sites where active greenhouse gas flux monitoring and ancillary observational data are being abtained the field.  The course will focus on a climate gradient from the southernmost part of the Arctic, Nuuk, Greenland and Oulanka, Finland, to high arctic Zackenberg, Greenland. We use an existing database consisting of more than 1500 ecosystem parameters that have been monitored continuously for 25 years in Greenland. The course will build on a first part that took place at Oulanka in September 2022. The lectures and exercises will move to a more advanced level but not include own practical project work. However, and in addition, this BEFLUX course will include introduction to social aspects relating to climate change and impacts on people in the Arctic.

Participation in the first course BEFLUX in Oulanka will be an advantage but not a requirement.

Prerequisites:

Enrollment in a PhD program within a relevant subject area.

 

Name of lecturers:

Professor Torben Røjle Christensen (Aarhus/Oulu); Associate Professor Thomas Friborg (Copenhagen); Associate Professor Norbert Pirk (Oslo); Researcher Efrén López-Blanco (GINR/Aarhus)

Invited local guest lecturers

 

Type of course/teaching methods:

Lectures, theoretical exercises and excursions.

 

Literature:

To be conveyed to the students accepted for the course

 

Course homepage:

None

 

Course assessment:

The students will be assessed based on their engagement and individual written course reports.

 

Provider:

Department of Ecoscience.

 

Special comments on this course:

University of the Arctic is covering accommodation and the travel allowance. Ticket costs beyond the allowance, local transport and subsistence during the course will not be covered. The housing will include possibilities for cooking own food.

 

Time:

12-19 June 2023

 

Place:

Greenland Institute for Natural Resources, Nuuk, Greenland

 

Registration:

Deadline for registration is 1 April 2023. Please sign up for the course here. Information regarding admission will be sent out no later than 15 April 2023.

If you have any questions, please contact Professor Torben R. Christensen e-mail: torben.christensen@ecos.au.dk or Dr Marie Frost Arndal e-mail: mfa@ecos.au.dk