The Icelandic IMAGES membership for the period 2001-2003 is funded by a grant from the National Research Council in Iceland. The Icelandic IMAGES committee includes Jon Eiriksson, Science Institute, University of Iceland, Gudrun Helgadottir, Marine Research Institute, Iceland, and Aslaug Geirsdottir, University of Iceland.
IMAGES related research in Iceland is currently concentrated around core material obtained on the 1999 IMAGES cruise across the North Atlantic. Cooperation has been established with research groups in the U. S. and in Denmark and Norway, including two projects funded by the 5th Framework Programme of the EU.
Iceland is an active participant in two IMAGES Working Groups: Ice Ocean Interaction WG, and the Holocene WG. Jon Eiriksson attended meetings in the Ice Ocean Interaction workgroup in Tromsö in 2001 and the Holocene work group in Lamont in 2002.
Studies on the North Icelandic shelf are concentrated on sedimentological, stable isotope, and volcanological studies of Lateglacial and Holocene deposits in the following IMAGES cores: MD992271, MD992272 and MD992275 and MD992273, in parallel with biostratigraphic research carried out in cooperation with the University of Aarhus. Participating scientists at the Science Institute, University of Iceland are Jón Eiríksson (sedimentology), Esther Ruth Guðmundsdóttir (sedimentology) and Guðrún Larsen (tephrochronology).
Cooperation has been established with Prof. J.-L. Turon, University of Bordeaux, France, on benthic and planktonic foraminfera, tephrochronology, and sedimentological aspects of cores MD992271, MD992273, MD992274, and MD992275. Concurrently, surface sample material has been obtained for the development of diatom transfer functions and dinoflagellate transfer functions for the region. From the University of Wales, Bangor UK, Fabienne Marret has participated in this cooperation and worked on dinoflagellate transfer functions and biostratigraphy of core MD992271. The last 2000 year record of the IMAGES cores MD992271 and MD992275 is included in the EU Commission funded project HOLSMEER (Late Holocene Shallow Marine Environments in Europe, http://www.bangor.ac.uk/os/holsmeer/), involving UK, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Spain and Portugal. The project is coordinated by James Scourse, University of Wales, Bangor UK. Studies of Holocene intervals of cores MD992271 and MD992275 are also included in the coming EU-funded project, PACLIVA (Patterns of Climatic Variability in the North Atlantic), coordinated by Eystein Jansen, the Bjerknes Centre, University of Bergen, Norway.
Other activities on the North Icelandic shelf are included in the PANIS project "Palaeoenvironments on the North Icelandic Shelf" (see http://www.hi.is/~jeir/panis.html), with participation from the University of Aarhus, Denmark (Karen Luise Knudsen). This project is funded by the Natural Science Research Councils in Iceland and in Denmark. At the University of Aarhus, two PhD.-students, one MSc.-student and three researchers are involved in the North Icelandic shelf projects. One M.Sc. student at the University of Iceland is currently involved in research on the IMAGES 1999 core material. For abstracts and publication lists, see http://www.hi.is/~jeir/panis.html.
IMAGES cores were also obtained on the West-Iceland and Northwest-Iceland shelf on the 1990 IMAGES cruise, and research on these cores is carried out in cooperation with scientists participating 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: University of Iceland (Áslaug Geirsdottir, associate professor, age@rhi.hi.is; Marine Research Institute Skulagata 4 101 Reykjavik Iceland (Gudrun Helgadottir, research scientist, gudrun@hafro.is). The objectives of the Icelandic IMAGES coring site studies are described in the 1998-1999 and 2000 Icelandic national reports at this website.
Report compiled in September, 2002, by:
Jon Eiriksson, Science Institute,
University of Iceland,
Jardfraedahus Haskolans,
IS-101 Reykjavik, Iceland.
Tel +354 525 44 75
Fax +354 552 13 31
Email jeir@rhi.hi.is
Web http://www.hi.is/~jeir/