Arctic Station Dirigibile Italia

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Arctic sea ice extent reached its sixth lowest this September over the 46-year-satellite record, and it is likely to continue declining. Atlantic waters represent 90% of the total inflow in the Arctic Ocean, and have been recognized to play an important role in the Atlantification of this region. The west-facing Svalbard fjords adjacent to the West Spitsbergen Current experience a much greater influence of warmer saline, and nutrient-rich Atlantic Waters (AW) than any other Arctic fjords.
To study transport times and mixing of AW into the Artic Ocean, artificial radionuclides Uranium-236 (U-236) and Iodine-129 (I-129) are of particular interest due to: i) their conservative nature in the ocean, and ii) known point sources in the North East Atlantic. I-129 and U-236 have been discharged in significant amounts in the Atlantic Ocean by two European Reprocessing Plants (RPS) located in Sellafield (U.K.) and La Hague (France). While their concentrations and U-236/I-129 isotopic ratios have been extensively studied to track pathways and transport time of AW within the Arctic Ocean, no U-236 and I-129 data are available for Svalbard Arctic fjords. 
Therefore, the TRACE-AtlantIC project aims at measuring two long-lived artificial radionuclides (U-236 and I-129)  that in combination with salinity-temperature time-trends are emerging as innovative transient tracers to constrain the fate, transport times, and mixing regimes of AW into the Arctic fjords located in the western Svalbard. 
The Kongsfjorden-Krossfjorden is an ideal fjord system to collect water samples for subsequent measurements of artificial U-236 and I-129 radionuclides as oceanographic tracers of Atlantic water masses and mixing processes into Arctic fjords of the western Svalbard. The Atlantification signal has been recorded by CTD measurements, oceanographyc surveys, and is continuously recorded at 3 marine observatories deployed in the Kongsfjorden (MDI and MAP) and in the Krossfjorden (KIM) managed by the Institute of Polar Research - National Research Council (CNR-ISP). 
Field activities for TRACE-AtlantIC research project will focus on sampling full-depth of water profiles for U-236 and I-129 radionuclides, and acquisition of synchronous CTD profiles within the Kongsfjorden-Krossfjorden system onboard of MS Testein. 
Access to the Arctic Station Dirigibile Italia laboratories and infrastructures at Ny-Ålesund village will: a) facilitate the acquisition of CTD data profiles from oceanographic surveys and marine observatories in the Kongsfjorden-Krossfjorden system, b)  enable coordination/optimization field activities and ship time with CNR-ISP planned operations on marine observatories to conduct the TRACE-AtlantIC water sampling, c) facilitated processing, treatment, preservation and shipment of samples for subsequent measurements 236U and 129I oceanographic tracers.
The TRACE-AtlantIC research project will significantly improve our understanding of the intensity and timing of Atlantification into the Arctic fjords located in the western Svalbard by providing answers to three specific research questions: i) how fast AW circulate into these fjords? ii) What are the transport times and mechanisms of AW intrusion into the fiords, and iii) What are the mixing regimes of AW into the fjords?
The TRACE-AtlantIC Arctic Field Grant (AFG) project proposal has been approved for funding by the Research Council of Norway, and has been registered in the RiS database with the RIS ID 12602.
References
Casacuberta, N., Masqué, P., Henderson, G., van-der-Loeff, M. R., Bauch, D., Vockenhuber, C., Daraoui, A., Walther, C., Synal, H.-A., & Christl, M. (2016). First 236U data from the Arctic Ocean and use of 236U/238U and 129I/236U as a new dual tracer. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 440, 127–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2016.02.020
De Rovere, F., Langone, L., Schroeder, K., Miserocchi, S., Giglio, F., Aliani, S., & Chiggiato, J. (2022). Water Masses Variability in Inner Kongsfjorden (Svalbard) During 2010–2020. Frontiers in Marine Science, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.741075

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TRACing Atlantic WatEr Masses in Arctic fjords using Uranium-236 and Iodine-129: A novel approach to detect AtlantifICation (TRACE-AtlantIC)