Arctic: Brazilian researchers do not find ice on mission – 08/26/2023 – Environment

Being outdoors wearing short-sleeved shirts is not exactly what one would expect from a journey to the vicinity of the North Pole, but that is what ended up happening, at times, with the first official expedition of Brazilian researchers to the Arctic.

The much milder conditions than expected hindered the group’s sample collection — and are yet another indication of the profound changes brought about by the climate emergency to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard (the expedition’s stage) and to the Arctic region as a whole.

“Talking to the residents of the village of Longyearbyen, where we stayed, they confirmed that these conditions are becoming more and more common”, says Paulo Câmara, a researcher at UnB (University of Brasília) and member of the Brazilian group that spent nine days in Svalbard during the last month of July.

The team also includes researchers from UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais) and the Catholic University of Brasília.

According to Micheline Carvalho Silva, a colleague of Câmara at UnB and on the expedition, the current scenario shows a great contrast with the appearance of the archipelago in 2016, when she was there for the first time — even considering that, on both occasions, the visit took place during the Arctic summer.

“The mountains had much less ice than the first time. Before, the shoes we wore were wet all the time, while this time the climate was super dry”, he compares. “In 2016 it rained every day; this time, no rain”, adds Câmara. “Temperatures reached 10°C, and that at 800 miles [1.280 km] from the North Pole.”

The Brazilian team, which received logistical support from the Armed Forces and includes specialists in plants, fungi and molecular biology, had among its objectives to investigate the long-distance connections between the Arctic and Antarctic biodiversity (a region in which the national research already has a decades-old tradition).

Unexpected heat thwarted that goal by making it difficult for scientists to access Svalbard’s glaciers, which have retreated sharply due to relatively high temperatures.

“Our idea was to obtain samples of this ice to sequence [grosso modo, fazer a leitura do DNA] the genetic material of the organisms that are present in that ice”, explains Carvalho Silva. However, this approach, known as metagenomics, will have to wait for a next opportunity.

“We’re thinking of going back in February. It’s the end of winter, which facilitates access to typical Arctic conditions. It wouldn’t do any good to go in the dead of winter because there’s no natural light and there’s snowfall, among other logistical problems,” she explains.

“The glacier we wanted to reach, which was much further away than expected, is retreating ten meters a year”, highlights Câmara.

Carvalho Silva says that the intensification of tourism in the region is also noteworthy, with the frequent arrival of ships carrying thousands of passengers —and the environmental impacts that this may end up bringing.