Page 57 - SAMCoT_2013

57 SAMC oT • ANNUAL REPORT 2013
international cooperation
The strong research cooperation network that has
been built by SAMCoT is significant and necessary for
us to conduct all our coastal field activities. After the
initial visit of SAMCoT researchers to Varandey in 2012,
SOI was responsible for implementing of the neces-
sary follow-up activities in 2013. Here, SOI repeated
topographic measurements in previously established
sites along the Varandey area. The temperature data
from 6 thermistor strings installed in the summer 2012
were also downloaded in 2013.
In June 2013, a SAMCoT expedition conducted field-
work at Baydara Bay on the coast of the Kara Sea.
This was also the second year of fieldwork at this
site. Researchers studied permafrost soil properties,
erosion processes at the coast and stability in the area.
A group of nine SAMCoT researchers fromMSU, SINTEF
and NTNU participated in activities as diverse as the
installation of a time-elapse camera for observation;
hand drilling of boreholes and sampling of frozen soil;
installation of thermistors and thermometry; levelling
of slopes for erosion rates and in situ measurements of
thermal conductivity, density and water content. Two of
the researchers involved in this field activity were PhD
candidates Daria Aleksuytina (MSU) and Emilie Guegan
(NTNU). Once more SAMCoT’s PhDs were at the front
line of research.
International focus in Arctic research
The Arctic is gaining political relevance. As a conse-
quence the centre´s international strategy is at the eye
of the hurricane. The VTT Technical Research Centre
of Finland is a clear example of how SAMCoT research
partners follow the current tendency by strengthening
their international activities.
Kari Kolari, Senior Scientist at VTT says, “The Arctic is a
hot subject in Finland. Challenges and opportunities in
Arctic technology make the headlines of the mass media
and it is a main topic in political discussions nowadays.”
The Finland Times published an article in August 2013
stating that of all eight Arctic countries, Finland’s latest
Arctic strategy is the most comprehensive in terms of
scope, objectives and the tangible proposals for attain-
ing these objectives.
Kolari provides two clear examples of new support for
Arctic research in Finland. The first is from Tekes – the
Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation – which has a
new technology programme called “Arctic Seas”. The
aim of this programme is to turn Finland into an inter-
nationally attractive concentration of Arctic know-how.
The second is the Academy of Finland’s efforts to direct
special funding to Arctic research. He says this trend is
also reflected in VTT´s own strategy. “Arctic and cold
climate research is also one of the current focus areas
of VTT’s strategy,” he said.
Visiting Researcher
Kolari spent threemonths in2013 as a visiting researcher
at the Department of Civil Engineering (BAT) at NTNU.
His stay was financed both by SAMCoT and by the
Finnish project Arnor, a Scandinavian project designed
to stimulate international cooperation. These financial
and scientific collaborations are of great importance
to SAMCoT and a win-win situation for the institutions/
programmes involved.
NTNU, as SAMCoT’s host institution, actively encour-
ages key researchers from the centre to go on scientific
exchanges with other institutions. Knut Høyland, the
leader at the SAMCoT research group with which Kolari
collaborates, says his group benefits from having close
contact with engaged and highly competent scientists
as Kolari. Kolari notes that it was 15 years ago when
he first collaborated with NTNU through LOLEIF, an EU
project. He recalled that this was the first time he met
Høyland, “in the lighthouse of Norströmsgrund, but at
that time he wasn’t professor yet.”
Kari Kolari at Hanko, Finland. Close to the site where
SAMCoT ice-interaction field experiments will take place
in 2014.
Photo: Kari Kolari