The Dasan Korean Arctic Station is situated at Ny-Ålesund, on the high Arctic island of Spitsbergen, part of the Svalbard Archipelago. The station, established in April, 2002, supports mainly Earth and Life scientists. Dasan station includes: laboratory space with limited equipment, glacier and boating equipment, radios, firearms (training provided) computers, telephone, fax and e-mail. There are seven bedrooms and those who cannot be accommodated at Dasan can use lodging owned by Kings Bay Company (the owners of Ny-Ålesund) for a daily board and lodging fee.
Dasan Station is part of an international research community at Ny-Ålesund including stations owned by Norway, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea and UK. Reputedly the world's northern most community of up to 150 people, it has a unique atmosphere kindled by scientists of various disciplines and nationalities living, working and cooperating in a beautiful, though sometimes harsh environment.
(information and photos are from the
station's web site.
)
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| Location | ||||
| Description: |  Ny-Ålesund is situated on the south side of the deep and sheltered Kongsfjord on the west coast of Spitsbergen. The southern shore alone provides 50 km of tundra and alluvial plain. A plant protection area at the head of the fjord is bounded by glaciers and sea. Numerous glaciers of various types bisect the 500 m peaks. Most bird species found in Svalbard are represented in the area with barnacle geese, eider duck, terns and kittiwakes nesting in large numbers. Land mammals include reindeer, fox and the occasional visit by bear. The local fjord is home to ringed, bearded and common seals, walrus and beluga. Many opportunities exist for researchers to carry out environmental research at Ny-Ålesund. This location is particularly suitable for ecological research, glacial/periglacial geomorphology, hydrology and atmospheric chemistry. | |||
| Country: | Norway | |||
| State/Province/Region: | Svalbard | |||
| Latitude (Decimal, Degreesºmm'ss") : | 78.9166º N 78º55' N | |||
| Longitude (Decimal, Degreesºmm'ss") : | 11.933º E 11º56' E | |||
| Environment Types Accessible at this Location | ||||
| Coastal, Glacier, Marine, Sea ice, Tundra | ||||
| Local History and Culture | ||||
| Description: | [from: http://sejong.kordi.re.kr/english/stations/arctic/dasan.asp ] The Dasan Station has been established since 29 April, 2002 The Dasan Research Base, located in the Svalbard which belongs to Norway, will become a resident base from 2005 to oversee all research conducted on the North Pole. For the plan, the ministry will invest 70 billion won by 2009 to expand the current base and fortify various sets of ultra-modern equipment and research fellows. Dasan (pen name) Jeong Yag-Yong (1762-1836) was the scholar who comprehensively compiled a vast works of practical science, so called 'Sirhak', of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). He has left a huge work covering almost every part of academic learning including politics, economy, history, geography, literature, music, philosophy, medical science, education, military science, natural science, etc. Thus the extent of Dasan's scholarly works is very deep and broad. He also developed some pulleys and wagons as their name of 'Geojunggi' and 'Yoohyeonggeo' to put them into practical use for constructing a fortress (1796). The fortress with a name of 'Suwon Hwaseong' is a world widely famous architecture designated by UNESCO. Dasan also had a deep interest in natural science and left behind many accomplishments. As a scientific mind should be based on the idea of rationality, he rejected everything that is irrational. He developed relatively accurate theories about the cause of tides and about phenomena of nearsightedness and farsightedness. It is certainly true that Dasan's contributions in natural science are no comparison with the achievements of modern science while may parts of his arguments incorporate western theories. So the Korean Arctic Research Station Dasan was named to give high praise for Dasan's greatness and many achievements in science, philosophy and society. | |||
| Primary Logistics Provider | ||||
| Organization: | The Dasan Korean Arctic Station | |||
| Address: | N-9173 Ny-Alesund, Norway | |||
| Telephone: | +47-79-027642 | |||
| Fax: | +47-79-027643 | |||
| E-mail: | polar@kordi.re.kr or shkang@kordi.re.kr | |||
| Contact person or agency web page: | http://sejong.kordi.re.kr/english/stations/arctic/intro.asp | |||
| Primary Management Agency | ||||
| Organization: | Korea Ocean Research & Development Institute (KORDI) | |||
| Contact information: | Polar Research Center Ansan Box 29 Seoul, 425-600, Korea | |||
| Telephone: | +82-31-4006410 | |||
| Fax: | +82-31-4085825 | |||
| Email: | ydkim@kordi.re.kr | |||
| Web site: | http://www.kordi.re.kr/ | |||
| Buildings | ||||
| Lodging, Sanitation | ||||
| Buildings: | The station provides laboratory space with limited equipment: glacier and boating equipment, radios, firearms (training provided) computers, telephone, fax and e-mail. There are seven bedrooms and those who cannot be accommodated by ours use bedrooms owned by Kings Bay Company (the owners of Ny-Ålesund) who charge a daily board and lodging fee. | |||
| Laboratory Space | ||||
| Electricity in lab space, Telephone in lab space, General use computers / printers in lab space, Desk/office space, Internet access in lab space, E-mail send/receive in lab space, Wet lab, Dry lab, Marine animal lab | ||||
| Lab space: | KORDI enlarged its rental space to the ground floor of the building that is being shared with France to meet the need of laboratory space from scientists. It adds 100 square meters to the existing 116 square meters. The space was allocated to biology, geophysics and atmospheric research laboratories including a scuba diving shop. | |||
| Weather Information and Statistics | ||||
| Weather information source for the research area: | The last remnant of the North Atlantic Drift produces a climate on Spitsbergen's west coast that is milder than normal at that latitude (coldest winter month average is -15°C and the warmest summer month average is +5°C). The sun is down October to March and midnight sun lasts April to August. | |||
| Current Projects and Research History | ||||
| Research sources: | A listing of research and project publications in English and Korean from 1998-present is available at: http://www.kordi.re.kr/eng/kordi/research_2002.asp or http://www.kordi.re.kr/eng/bin/book.asp Research at or near Ny-Ålesund: a) Monitoring on the marine environment and phyto-plankton of Kongsfjorden, Svalbard - Physical environment for phytoplankton in Kongsfjorden - Distribution pattern of phytoplankton - Sea-ice microalgae - Impacts on human activities and environmental changes b) The Physical Environment of Kongsfjorden, An Arctic fjord in Svalbard - Environment around Dasan Station - Physical factors of Kongsfjorden c) Distribution of Zooplankton community in King’s Bay, Svalbard - Species composition of zooplankton - Community structure of zooplankton d) A Study on the Development of Novel Substances from the Arctic - Study on metabolites on Arctic land plants e) Isolation and Identification of the Arctic Microorganisms inhabited around Korean Arctic Research Station Dasan located at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, Norway - Study on isolation of cold-adapted microorganisms - Construction of gene bank on cold-adapted microorganisms f) Study on annual observation using geothermometer - Annual monitoring on geo-temperature around Dansan Station using geothermometer Marine environment and phytoplankton of Kongsfjorden, Svalbard during August in 2002 (Dr. Sung-Ho Kang, shkang@kordi.re.kr ) During the first Dasan Station field season, August 2002, surface temperature, salinity, density, and phytoplankton biomass (chl a) was measured in Kongsfjoden, Svalbard. Chl avalues ranged from 0.08 to 1.4 mg chl am-3 (mean of 0.53 mg chl am-3) in the overall surface stations. The highest values of the chl aconcentrations (>1.0 mg chl am-3 ) were found near glacier in the northeastern part of the Kongsfjorden. Nanoplanktonic (< 20 µm) phytoflagellates were the most important contributors for the increase of the chl a. The nano-sized phytoflagellates accounted for more than 90 percent of the total chl a biomass in the study area. Surface temperatures and salinities ranged from 2.5 to 7.18°C (mean of 4.65°C) and from 22.55 to 32.97 psu (mean of 30.16 psu), respectively. Drifting ice, freshwater, and semdiment inputs from large tidal glaciers located in inner part of Konsfjorden create steep physico- and biogeochemical environmental gradients along the length of this fjord. The glacial inputs cause reduced biodiversity, biomass, and productivity in the pelagic community in the inner fjord. Primary production of benthic and pelagic microalgae is reduced because of limited light levels in the turbid, mixed inner waters. -Physical environment of Kongsfjorden during August in 2002 (Dr. Hoil Yoon, hiyoon@kordi.re.kr ) Spatial temperature and salinity were measured using YSI 6920 CTD in 7~13 August and 2 October, 2002 to understand the basically physical environment of Kongsfjorden. In summer (August), when atmospheric heating is high and the amount of precipitation is large, the amount of melting freshwater became high into the drainage basin and the consequent surface water (<3.0, <30.00 psu). Warm surface water (>5.0) in both August and October flowed into the bay and the induced thermal contacting-meltwater at the front of glacier and produced mixed surface water. Strong advection of surface water through northern part of the bay was caused by down-fjord wind. -Distribution of zooplankton community in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard (Dr. Won-Chul Lee, wlee@hanyang.ac.kr ) Zooplankton were surveyed from 5 to 15 August 2002 at nine stations in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard. Zooplankton community consisted of six taxa. Copepods were dominant group and showed highest value in the frequency of abundance with 89.8 percent of total zooplankton. Mean abundance was 2,348 inds./m3 ranging from 835 indv./m3 at st.4 to 6,232 indv./m3 at st. 2 during the study periods. Zooplankton abundances were affected by the fluctuations of temperature and salinity. Abundances were fewer in the inner bay area near from glacier than in the open ocean mainly due to copepod abundance. Generally, zooplankton abundance was higher in high temperature and high salinity area than in low temperature and low salinity glacial coastal area. A cyclopoid copepod, Oithona similis was dominant in the surveyed area. -A study on the development of novel substances from the Arctic (Dr. Jung-Rae Rho, jrrho@kordi.re.kr ) During the course of our search for bioactive metabolites from Arctic organisms, four marine algae and three plants were collected from Svalbard, Norway. Some of these organisms have bioactivity, and two new metabolites of the bisabolene class have been isolated from the Arctic plants Cassiope tetragona. The partial structures of these compounds have been determined by combined spectral studies. The novel compound exhibited cytoxicity toward a human leukemia cell-line K-562. -Isolation and identification of the Arctic microorganisms inhabited around Kongsfjordne (Dr. Hong Kum Lee, hklee@kordi.re.kr ) The Arctic microorganisms, identified using 16S rDNA sequences, were preserved in deep-freezer as a genetic bank. Soil microorganisms have inhabited around Korean Arctic Research Station Dasan located at Ny-Ã…lsund. The total 221 viable microorganisms and 203 genomic DNAs were preserved in deep-freezer. Among the 221 strains, the 16S rDNAs of 97 strains were amplified, sequenced, and phylogenetically analyzed. Out of 97 strains, 21 strains were overlapped and 76 microorganisms were identified: 55 species of Pseudomonas genus, 21 species of Arthrobacter genus, Alcaligenes sp., Phychrobacter sp., and Yersinia sp. Arctic microorganisms isolated in this study can be used for screening to develop new antibiotics or industrial enzymes. Click here for information on research in the vicinity of Ny-Ålesund from the database of Veco Polar Resources. | |||