Climate change heavily affects Arctic hydrologic dynamics, generating significant environmental modifications and potentially leading to climatic feedbacks and further warming amplification. In formerly glacierized watersheds, hydrologic processes are evolving, with new storage mechanisms and distribution of water resources, as more persistent rivers and developed groundwater systems. Changes in river flows will alter fluxes of freshwater, sediments and nutrients with implications for biodiversity in both freshwater and marine ecosystems, also affecting coastal ocean currents. The rapid glacier melting affects weathering processes, resulting in the mobilization-transport of different inorganic and organic molecules (i.e. pollutants), microorganisms stored since long time, turbid meltwaters.
In this framework, detailed and comprehensive research projects are required for gaining insight into the current hydrologic processes, their change trends and the effects they have on land water resources, mobilization of solutes/pollutants, solids ad microbiota into the Arctic fjords and ocean.
Thanks to its geographical characteristics, the retreating glaciers, the research stations and infrastructures, and the studies carried out in the past and present, the Bayelva catchment near Ny-Ålesund (Western Svalbard-Norway) is an ideal site for surveys aimed at increasing knowledge on hydrology dynamics and associated effects, in the continuum from glaciers to the fjord.
The ICEtoFLUX project deploys a multi-tool approach in this area for contributing to fill the information gaps on Arctic hydrologic processes, and their quantification. By investigating snowpack, meltwater from snow and glaciers, groundwater in superficial active layer and deeper layers, river and fjord waters, the main components of water cycle and their organic and inorganic transport are quantified and their effects on Arctic environment are identified. A mutual integration between experimental activities and modelling is also performed. Data and information will be relevant to both sustainable development of the Arctic region and other scientific activities aimed at studying climate effects and/or feedbacks to climate.
