See also #Greenland. Yesterday it was 11C in Ittoqqortoormiit (Scoresbysund), the average for april is -8.5C
www.dmi.dk/vejrarkiv/no...

Svalbard is thawing in April, and it’s not supposed to. 2026 ground temperatures at 0.2m depth in Svalbard spiking to 0°C in April, far exceeding the 1998-2025 median and maximum

Early snowmelt - Spitzbergen | Svalbard It is ear­ly June. The strong ear­ly sum­mer sun is mel­ting the last patches of snow; the tun­dra lies bare across a vast expan­se. Snow bun­tings are sin­ging, reinde­er are rejoi­cing at the onset ...

Good account here: www.spitsbergen-svalbard.com/2026/04/20/e...

Svalbard’s weather is fickle, but one might expect highs of -9*C in April here, 1200 miles from the North pole.

But over recent days it’s more like June. Max of +7*C, T shirt weather, and rivers starting to flow, snowmobiles stranded.

In my student days +7*C would be a hot July day.

Still on a month long busman’s holiday to the Arctic 20 years later.

About 50 km out of town. The governor had investigated a sighting

Recent (<12h) polar bear tracks. My hand for scale, Svalbard 16/04/26

Overview of polar bear tracks in the snow headed across a valley directly to a cabin 16/04/26, Svalbard

Polar bear walks in to a pub, goes up to the bar and says…

Could I have a gin and

…

Tonic

Sure, says the bartender. But why the big paws?
#freshlyclicked #fieldphotofriday

"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives." Carl Sagan

A north facing view on the approach to Ny-Ålesund with the peaks of the Tre Kroner - Nora, Svea, and Dana prominent.

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in

I have to give a big shout out to Aberystwyth University library for emailing us students with the message:
Don't like/trust/approve of AI?
Don't feel pressured into using it. You're not missing out if you don't. It's potentially wasting your time and eroding your confidence with false flattery.

A researcher demonstrating work in a Class III Microbiological Safety Cabinet in a CL3 containment laboratory.

Very cool job opportunity with us: CL3 lab manager and biosafety officer @aberdlsagb.bsky.social closes 22/03/26. Join a great team with fantastic facilities in a lovely corner of the planet: jobs.aber.ac.uk/en/vacancy/b...

AI Keeps Failing at Microbiome Prediction Why simple models keep winning, where deep learning still shines, and where the field is headed

AI has huge promise for genomics -- but it has consistently failed at microbiome-based prediction.

My new post on why simple models keep winning, where deep learning actually earns its place, and where the field is headed

blekhman.substack.com/p/ai-keeps-f...

When someone says „Scientists do not want you to know“ you can dismiss everything from there on. Scientists want you to know. They are desperate that you know. They can’t shut up about what they found out and want you to know.

Job description text

Job description text

Cruise logo from our 2024 expedition to Greenland

Sampling on a small motorboat during our 2024 expedition to Greenland

If you're interested in particle fluxes, sinking plankton and the Arctic, then the fantastic Emilia Trudnowska has a great 2.5 year position open for you: Work on data from our Arctic expeditions to study how microbial dynamics around Greenland and Svalbard are responding to climate change 🌊

🔔Seminar Opportunity🔔

We're looking for (self)recommendations for a Postdoc who is working in the area of AMR (any area, any discipline) to give an online seminar in May.

Reply, DM or email me, there will more opportunities in the future as well so will be good to have a list.

#MicroSky #AMR

A new era for #ONT amplicon sequencing?
We show that #ONT #amplicon sequencing now achieves accuracy sufficient for #ASV resolution using standard Illumina-based pipelines. We validated this by sequencing identical amplicons on #ONT and #PacBio. @nanoporetech.com www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Crunchy on the outside, squishy on the inside. And good with ketchup, apparently...

Tales from the Poles - APECS Netherlands Tales from the Poles Tales from the Poles is a collaborative storytelling project organized by APECS Netherlands and the UK Polar Network. Its aim is to bring together diverse voices connected to th...

Polar researchers are so often great storytellers. Here's a compilation of stories from the field by polar scientists, including @aberdlsagb.bsky.social 's @tir5.bsky.social apecsnetherlands.nl/tales-from-t...

Saving The Life We Cannot See | NOEMA Conservation has traditionally ignored the planet’s smallest life forms. Microbiologists are trying to change that — before it’s too late.

A great read on saving endangered microbes (and not just from glaciers)

“The world is at a critical inflection point,” says @gilbertjacka.bsky.social “If we don’t do something now, shit’s going to get real, and microbiology needs to be considered in this space.”

www.noemamag.com/saving-the-l...

If you want to know what Reform would be like in power, look at how it threatened Bangor University | Gaby Hinsliff A debating society didn’t want to invite two figures connected to the party to speak. Cue an authoritarian response, says Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff

If you want to know what Reform would be like in power, look at how it threatened Bangor University | Gaby Hinsliff

Excellent commentary, but I think we mustn’t lose sight that tourists are not the only visitors to glaciers. Last-chance glaciology also has its impacts and paradoxes.

Hi Bluesky microbiology/limnology/hydrology/field folks!

Has anyone used this style of cordless drill peristaltic pump for sample collection or field filtration?

The design checks a lot of our boxes (replaceable tubing, decent suction height, compact batteries), but doesn't seem widely available.

Remember, a fish sunsets from the head down…

A new era of bioclimatic extremes in the terrestrial Arctic Long-term climate data suggest that the Arctic is entering a new era of bioclimatic extremes threatening cold ecosystems.

A new era of bioclimatic extremes in the terrestrial Arctic

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Polar bears getting Scientists think that Svalbard bears have adapted to recent ice loss by eating more land-based prey.

Poor bears. First the climate change and now the fatshaming. #svalbardtillegget www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

GitHub - bluenote-1577/savont: Amplicon sequencing variants from 16s ONT R10.4 / HiFi long reads Amplicon sequencing variants from 16s ONT R10.4 / HiFi long reads - bluenote-1577/savont

Announcing a new tool for "denoising" long-read amplicon sequences: savont.

Savont enables amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) directly from nanopore (or HiFi) long reads. Tested on 16S nanopore amplicons -- seems to work okay.

1/4

github.com/bluenote-157...

Looking for a tool to estimate abundances of aerobes versus anaerobes directly from metagenomes? Here you go: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Some unorthodox ice coring techniques… #fieldphotofriday #fieldworkfriday

New blog post with some thoughts on @nanoporetech.com and their recent announcement that the P2 Solo will be discontinued:
rrwick.github.io/2026/01/21/p...

Big news in one of those weeks where decades happen.