The COVID-19 pandemic has been first and foremost a health crisis, but it has also had severe negative impacts on the global economy. It has shaken regional economies, especially labour markets, over the last two years. Arctic regions are no exception. The aim of this article is to analyse the regional economic impacts, as well as the recovery processes, of the COVID19 pandemic in Arctic 5 cities ...

Sea ice algae have a broad salinity tolerance but can experience stress during rapid decreases in salinity that occur with seasonal ice melt and during ice sample melt. This study investigated the impact of salinity on the photophysiological responses of bottom-ice algal communities from two Svalbard fjords (Tempelfjorden and Van Mijenfjorden). To further investigate the impact of salinity alone, ...

Climatic and anthropogenic factors are increasingly affecting reindeer husbandry in Norway and Sweden. The potential health risks associated with a warming climate, and the necessity to avoid starvation by providing supplementary feed to semi-domesticated reindeer, need to be explored and identified. A questionnaire-based survey among reindeer herders was conducted, containing questions about the ...

The northwestern Barents Sea (NW-BS) is a highly productive region within the transitional zones of an Atlantic to Arctic-dominated marine ecosystem. The steep latitudinal gradients in sea ice concentration, Atlantic and Arctic Water, offer an opportunity to test hypotheses on physical drivers of spatial and temporal variability of net primary production (NPP). However, quantifying NPP in such a ...

The Barents Sea is an inflow shelf sea in the Arctic Ocean which experiences climate change consequently reduction in the sea ice extent thereby significantly impacting its ecological importance. This study investigates seasonal variations in the vertical flux of particulate matter including both particulate organic matter (chl a) and particulate inorganic matterin the form of CaCO3 contributed by ...

The brain is highly dependent on oxygen for its metabolism and, in most mammals, major brain dysfunction occurs already within minutes of insufficient oxygen supply (hypoxia). Oxygen is the final electron acceptor in the electron transport system that drives the production of ATP through oxidative phosphorylation in the mitochondria. The rate at which oxidative phosphorylation produces ATP is dependent ...

Understanding drivers of mercury (Hg) accumulation in freshwater food webs is vital due to its ability to accumulate in organisms and magnify in food webs to potent levels, potentially impacting wildlife and human health. This is of particular concern in regions where fish serve as an important food source. This study explores drivers of Hg accumulation in European perch (Perca fluviatilis) across ...

Blue mussels (Mytilus spp.) are important ecosystem bioengineers and provide numerous of ecosystem services. They are found worldwide, but face a global population decline for unclear reasons in many regions. A pilot study in the subarctic rocky intertidal shore in Northern Norway revealed an unexpected unimodal pattern in the body size of blue mussels along a vertical transect from low to high ...

Social entrepreneurship plays a key role in making tourism an inclusive activity. Literature on the topic is increasing but needs to pay more attention to collaboration, which is crucial for social enterprises. To overcome this gap, the research focuses on the impact that social entrepreneurs’ drivers and barriers towards collaboration might have on providing decent work in rural tourism. The research ...

The optical chain and logger (OptiCAL) is an autonomous ice-tethered observatory equipped with multiple light sensors for mapping the variation of light with depth. We describe the instrument and present an ensemble calibration for downwelling irradiance E_PAR in [µmolm⁻²s⁻¹]. Results from a long-term deployment in the Arctic Ocean demonstrate that the OptiCAL can ...