Iceland - National IMAGES report for 1998-1999
Jon Eiriksson, September 1999.

Iceland became a member of IMAGES in 1998 through a grant from the National
Research Council in Iceland for a three year period (1998-2000). The
application was submitted by Jon Eiriksson, Science Institute, University
of Iceland, and Gudrun Helgadottir, Marine Research Institute, Iceland.

Active involvement of Icelandic scientists with IMAGES began in 1997 with
a coring proposal integrating phase II of the project PAlaeoenvironments on
the North Icelandic Shelf (PANIS - http://www.hi.is/~jeir/panis.html) with
IMAGES Work Group 1: North Atlantic Ultra High Resolution. The proposal was
presented and adopted at an IMAGES meeting in Stockholm in 1997. The
proponents come from the University of Iceland (Jon Eiriksson), University
of Aarhus, Denmark (Karen Luise Knudsen), and the University of Bergen,
Norway (Haflidi Haflidason). The basic objectives of the project are:

1. To study the variations of the boundary between the Icelandic Polar
Current and the East Icelandic Current, - branches of the East Greenland
Current on one hand and the Irminger branch of the North Atlantic Current
on the other, employing geochemical, biostratigraphical, and lithological
research of cores from high resolution (c. 50-100 cm/1000 yr) marine
sediments on the North Icelandic shelf during the Holocene and Late
Pleistocene.
2. To study changes in the sedimentary environment and processes reflected
by changes in grain size related to bottom current activity as well as
provenance studies of ice rafted material (IRD flux). Long (> 5 m) marine
cores are necessary in such a high sedimentation rate regime to extend the
study back to Late Pleistocene ice rafting events.
3. To extend the detailed tephrochronology of Iceland into the marine
environment of the Nordic Seas, enabling land-sea correlations and studies
of the immediate impact of volcanism on the marine sedimentological and
biological processes. Active volcanism and extensive tephrochronological
work in Iceland and the surrounding seas provide a key area for developing
methods for detailed land-sea correlations.

During the 1999 RV Marion Dufresne cruise, Leg 3, the PANIS research area
north of Iceland was successfully cored. Two of the proponents, Jon
Eiriksson and Haflidi Haflidason, as well as three postgraduate students
from the University of Aarhus, participated in the whole Leg 3. Pending
funding, the prospects for palaeoceanographic studies focusing on the
Holocene and the last glacial-interglacial cycle, based on the new IMAGES
core material, are considered very good.

A second project for IMAGES core sites on the Icelandic shelf was proposed
in 1998, involving ultrahigh resolution coring on the Northwest Iceland
shelf focusing on:

1. Reconstructing Holocene changes in sea-ice, watermasses and glacial
extent on decadal to century scale.
2. Reconstructing land/ocean interactions from deglacial through the Holocene.
3. To evaluate the location of the Iceland inland ice during the Last
Glacial maximum and through the deglaciation.
This IMAGES-related study is based on results from previous studies done
under the international PALE (Paleoclimate of Arctic Lakes and
Estuaries)/PARCS (PaleoArctic Systems) program
(http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/pale/index.html) and the study is in
close co-operation with the INSTAAR group in Boulder, Colorado, US
(http://ekman.colorado.edu/~echol/). Institutions involved in the NW
Iceland IMAGES programme studies:oDepartment of Geosciences University of
Iceland Jardfraedahus Haskolans 101 Reykjavik Iceland (Aslaug Geirsdottir,
associate professor, age@rhi.hi.is); Marine Research Institute Skulagata 4
101 Reykjavik Iceland (Gudrun Helgadottir, research scientist,
gudrun@hafro.is); Science Institute University of Iceland Dunhagi 3 107
Reykjavik (Jorunn Hardardottir, research scientist,
jorunnha@raunvis.hi.is). During the 1999 RV Marion Dufresne cruise, Leg 3,
the research area northwest of Iceland was successfully cored. Three of the
proponents, Aslaug Geirsdottir, Gudrun Helgadottir, and Jorunn
Hardardottir, as well as one postgraduate students and one undergraduate
student from the University of Iceland, participated in parts of Leg 3.
Pending funding, the prospects for palaeoceanographic studies focusing on
the Holocene and the Lateglacial are considered very good, as long IMAGES
cores were obtained at both the proposed sites.