ASSP – Spring Semester

Arctic safety

The course will give you knowledge about the risks when working in Greenland. During the course, you will get hands-on practice and theoretical introduction to safety and behavior working on sea ice, e.g. use of rifles, flares etc. to scare away polar bears and muskoxen, first aid with focus on prevention and treatments of frost injuries, emer­gency equipment including navigation in Greenland and use of communications sys­tems (including VHF radio, satellite phone ect.), setting up emergency camps (including snow pits), rescue techniques on sea ice, safety on snowmobile and avalanche scenarios, rescue techniques and ship safety. This course will not grant ECTS, but it is mandatory for you when working on sea ice. The course takes place in Nuuk and it involves fieldwork in the Nuuk area.

For more information, see “How to apply“.

Sea ice Ecology (5 ECTS)

The course will give you insight into and understanding of the most important physical and chemical parameters e.g. light availability, nutrients, salinity, inorganic and organic carbon dynamics and temperature fluctuations relevant for the structure and function of Arctic sea ice ecosystem. You will obtain skills to discuss how future changes in those parameters will influence sea ice ecosystems. During the course you will get an understanding of sea ice as an ecosystem with its own unique characteristics and energy transport pathways. Finally, you will get an understanding of sea ice as an extreme ecosystem, focusing especially on sea ice algae and bacteria. The course takes place in Nuuk and it involves fieldwork in the Nuuk area.

For more information, see “How to apply” or the course catalogue.

Arctic Microbial Ecology (5 ECTS) 

The course will give you the basic principles of microbial ecology and biogeochemical processes that take place in a range of environments in the Arctic with particular focus on the terrestrial and freshwater environment e.g. colonization and formation of soils in recent deglaciated areas by microbial communities, release of methane from subglacial habitats, albedo modification by microbial colonization of ice and snow, microbial food webs in Arctic lakes, microbial communities in permafrost soil active layer and permanently frozen soil, microbial activity in connection to greenhouse gas formation and consumption (methane emissions, N2O emmissions etc.). You will be able to appreciate the way microbes interact and how they change their physical and chemical environment. Finally, you will be able to identify the feedback between climate change and microbial processes in Arctic habitats. The course takes place in Nuuk and it involves fieldwork in the Nuuk area.

For more information, see “How to apply” or the course catalogue

Arctic Marine Ecosystems in a Changing Climate (10 ECTS)

You will learn about the processes, structures and biological communities in different Arctic marine environments and how they are affected by sea ice dynamics and snow and glacial melt. During the course, you will also learn about how the biological structure and function of Arctic marine ecosystems are influenced by physical and chemical parameters e.g. temperatures, freshwater input (salinity), nutrients levels, light conditions and ice cover. The extreme environment of the Arctic makes it particularly vulnerable to climate change and so the course focusses on Arctic marine ecosystem within the context of a changing climate. Thus, the course will provide you with the background knowledge to discuss how future climatic changes may alter different Arctic marine ecosystems. Finally, you will get an introduction to management of living marine resources as well as monitoring of marine environments in Greenland. The course takes place in Nuuk and it involves fieldwork in the Nuuk area.

For more information, see “How to apply“or the course catalogue

From Catchment to Coast – Climate change impacts on Arctic ecosystems (10 ECTS)

The course will give you detailed knowledge regarding climate change impacts on terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems as well as the ability to critically discuss how these ecosystems are linked. You will also be introduced to the impact of climate change on reshaping cross-ecosystem linkages between terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. Finally, through dedicated field- and laboratorywork in the Nuuk area, you will gain practical experience in collecting, measuring and understanding Arctic physical, chemical and biological data, and be able to evaluate, perspectivate and present the results in the context of any similar previous research and/or theories. The course takes place in Nuuk and it involves fieldwork in the Nuuk area.

For more information, see “How to apply“or the course catalogue