Annual Report 2004
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Nature and environment |
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Greenland's first World Heritage Site
We did it! During the course of the summer Ilulissat Ice Fjord in West Greenland was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List and is now in the company of other distinguished nature habitats such as Niagara Falls,Yellowstone, and the Grand Canyon.With the inclusion in the list comes also a commitment to monitor that the expected increased tourist activities do not cause harm to the area.With support from the Danish Cooperation for Environment in the Arctic (DANCEA), GEUS participated in the work to establish a monitoring programme in collaboration with the Greenland Home Rule and the municipality of Ilulissat. In September, GEUS published a popular- science book entitled "Ilulissat Icefjord - A World Heritage Site" in Danish, English and Greenlandic with support from DANCEA and the municipality of Ilulissat. The book is an edited version of the nomination document and it has received positive reviews. E.g. the Danish newspaper Politiken wrote: "A beautiful photo book, which escapes the status of coffee table book by including scientific aspects in a journalistic style which makes the book accessible to everyone. It is entertaining, and popular science and cultural history in one.Why is more research not presented in this form?". |
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Method for remediation of fractured soils
Organic contamination of fractured, dense rock, such as moraine clay, constitutes a major problem in Europe, since it is extremely difficult to remediate and because contamination may transport quickly to groundwater through the fractures. GEUS has commenced a new EU research project with partners from Denmark, Poland, Greece, and France. The project, entitled STRESOIL, has as its objective to develop new effective methods for remediation of organic contamination of fractured soils. The project will take place in Poland where a large area with fractured glacial sediments has been seriously contaminated by a former airbase station. The project includes testing different methods to artificially enhance the permeability of the soil; performing laboratory studies of natural processes; and developing a model to help select the optimal remediation method relative to remediation effect, time and price. |
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Climate change in the Arctic Ocean
The inaccessible Arctic Ocean is one of the least explored areas of the world. However, at the same time it is an area which is very sensitive to climate change. Measurements from e.g. US submarines have shown that the sea ice in this area has become significantly thinner in recent years. In May, GEUS participated in a large international research project aimed at mapping the past climate in the Arctic Ocean and measuring the present thickness and movement of the sea ice. From an ice camp on the sea ice in the almost unexplored area north of Greenland, researchers from Denmark, Great Britain, Germany, and Norway examined the size and the processes of the thinning of the sea ice cover.Through drillings in the seabed, researchers from GEUS examined the climate and changes in the sea ice cover thousands years back in time. The measurements are part of the adjustment of the climate models used to project the development of the climate. The research project, entitled Greenland Arctic Shelf Ice and Climate Experiment (GreenICE), is being financed by the EU. |
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Monitoring of the Inland Ice
Monitoring of the Inland Ice The interplay of the Inland Ice and climate is an important element to understand during an increasingly warmer climate. The large ice masses which cover more than 70 per cent of Greenland can potentially generate both increased sea levels and changes to the Gulf Stream in a warmer climate. In 2004, GEUS continued its establishment and development of automatic weather stations to determine ice melting and ice movements on the Inland Ice. The measurements are being conducted under the ICEMON project, which is supported by the Danish DANCEA. The work is taking place from 9 stations in West and East Greenland, where measurements from aircraft and satellites have documented a significant thinning of the ice. Furthermore, the project is part of important international efforts to explain how the Inland Ice is reacting to climate changes. In 2004, the American space agency NASA launched the satellite ICESat in order to measure the changes in height of the sea ice and the large ice masses on land. The measurements from the ICEMON project are important to the interpretation of the data from the ICESat satellite. In 2005, a similar satellite, Cryosat, from the European space agency ESA will follow. Here, supported by the Danish Natural Science Research Council, GEUS will be contributing control measurements. |
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Grant for new research centre at Geocenter Copenhagen
GEUS and its Geocenter partner, the Geological Institute, have been granted DKK 7.4 mill from the Danish Natural Science Research Council for a new research centre entitled:" Oceanography and Climate in an extreme Greenhouse World: the late Cretaceous - Danian of Northwest Europe". The centre will be examining one of the periods in the history of the Earth when the global climate was substantially warmer than it is today. For long periods of the Earth's history, the global climate was warmer and the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere was larger than we know today. These periods derogate considerably from the present with regard to oceanography, ecology, and geological sedimentation, and the period from late Cretaceous to Danian from 90-60 millions years ago represents a prolonged period with a greenhouse climate. In this period vast areas of the Earth's continents were covered by sea. In the broad-spanning sea which covered north-western Europe white chalk sediments settled, which today can be seen e.g. in the characteristic cliffs on Møn and Stevns in southern Zealand.Through studies of the exposed chalks layers and new drillings, the new project will uncover the oceanographic, climate, and ecological forces at play during one of the most stable and prolonged sedimentary systems in the Earth's geological history, and the project will generate spin-off knowledge for use in connection with exploitation of oil/gas and water from the chalk in the Danish subsurface. |
