Decoding frozen messages—The Torgny Vinje Ice and Climate Laboratory

Did you know that the Fram Centre in Tromsø houses a unique research facility? The Torgny Vinje Ice and Climate Laboratory, run by the Norwegian Polar Institute, is often used in collaboration with other research partners. How did it all start? 

When the Polar Environmental Centre opened in Tromsø in 1998, one of the wishes of the Norwegian Polar Institute’s glaciologists came true: they got a freezer laboratory for scientific work with ice samples. However, despite the great opportunities this new laboratory offered, it was quite limited in terms of space and connected facilities. 

When the renamed Fram Centre was extended with the “Fram 2” building in the mid-2010s, the possibility of including a larger facility emerged. A new concept was developed, with two separate freezer laboratories and a wet laboratory between the two, a nearby changing room, and a larger ice storage facility. Why two separate freezer laboratories? Sea ice contains brine, a very salty liquid that fills pores and channels in the ice, as well as inorganic and organic components related to the lowest trophic levels in the polar oceans. The ice in land-based glaciers and ice sheets is much “cleaner”, and handling samples from briny sea ice and freshwater land ice in the same room can be a problem. With two separate laboratories, experiments can be conducted in parallel, without risk of contamination. 

The wet lab is used to melt selected samples, to prepare for work in the cold rooms, and warm up afterward. How cold? Usual working temperatures in the lab are between 15 and 20°C, similar to the temperature the ice is stored at. Those working in the lab use clothing suitable for the polar winter: they must be protected against frostbite and fatigue and feel comfortable enough to work in a controlled fashion. Before using the lab, everybody goes through specific health, safety and environment regulations and a detailed risk assessment. Doors, cable tunnels and large windows connect the freezer labs with the wet laboratory in between, enabling access and surveillance of experiments.

The official inauguration ceremony

In September 2020, shortly after the Fram 2 extension was completed, the freezer laboratory was officially opened by Sveinung Rotevatn, who was Norway’s Minister for Climate and Environment at that time. As a part of the opening, the laboratory was named after the late Norwegian sea ice scientist Torgny Vinje (1929–2015). Vinje worked for the Norwegian Polar Institute for many years, and his legacy still lives on, in well-cited research articles; he initiated long-term records of sea ice properties that are continued to this day by scientists at the Polar Institute, giving us a unique record for measuring the impacts of climate change, and processes related to it.

Examples of research and analysis

The actual work in the lab includes textural analysis of sea ice crystal structure. Sea ice cores (usually up to about 5 m long) are cut into thick and thin slices to learn more about the formation and growth history of the sea ice. Ice properties can also be measured to support the development and calibration of new satellite remote sensing products, such as in the Fram Centre project SUDARCO.

Physical and chemical properties of both sea ice and land ice are measured with light tables, core benches and other types of instruments and methods. Investigating properties of land ice cores from glaciers and ice sheets—cores measuring 100 or even 1000 m—helps us reconstruct climate conditions of the past, and gives context for modern climate change. In addition, these ice cores also provide important information about pollution history.

The laboratory is also used for experiments under cold conditions, and for preparing snow and ice samples for controlled melting and further analysis elsewhere. For example, sea ice chemistry is used to understand the role of sea ice in biological and physical processes such as gas exchange between ocean and atmosphere.