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Elin Darelius

Elin Darelius

Position

Professor

Affiliation

E-mail
elin.darelius@uib.no
Phone number
+47 55582599
Visitor address
Allég. 70
5007 Bergen
Room: Midtbygget, 122
Postal address
P.O. Box 7803
NO-5020 Bergen
Norway

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Elin Darelius

Position

Professor

Affiliation

Research groups

Short info

I am a Professor in physical oceanographer, working mostly with observations. I’ve got one foot in the Weddell Sea, where I study how the ocean contributes to ice shelf melt, and the other in the Norwegian fjords, where I study how climate change affects e.g. oxygen concentrations in the deep basins
Research

The contribution of West Antarctic Ice Sheet melt to sea level rise is identified as the largest source of uncertainty in the assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Nearly all the ice sheets in Antarctica terminate on the ice shelves (the floating extensions of the ice sheets) and ice shelf-ocean interaction is one of the most, if not the most, important scientific questions, when seeking to deliver a reliable projection of future sea-level rise. Thinning of ice shelves will reduce the restraints on the flow of grounded ice sheets upstream, thereby increasing the ice sheets’ contribution to sea-level rise. Many of the ice shelves in Antarctica have been thinning at accelerating rates, and the thinning is tightly coupled to increased oceanic heat fluxes.  Despite its importance, the dynamics governing the flow of warm water towards and into the ice shelf cavities are poorly understood and poorly represented in climate models.

I'm involved in projects aiming to quantify and better understand the oceanic heatflux towards Antarctic ice shelves. My work is mainly based on observations and focuses on the Weddell. I am also interested in understanding processes related to the formation of dense shelf waters and their descent towards the deep ocean basins were they form what we call Antarctic Bottom Water.

I am also involved in interdisciplinary work related to climate change and the conditions in the deep basins of the Norwegian sill-fjords. The water below sill depth is stagnant, and biological processes cause the oxygen concentration here to decline with time. New oxygen is only supplied when the fjord is flushed with relatively dense waters from the shelf, outside of the sill. As temperatures rise and the salinity decreases on the shelf, deep water renewals occur less frequently, and the mean oxygen concentration in the fjords decreases. This has large consequences for e.g. the local ecosystems.  

 

Outreach

Me and my collaborators write about our scientific adventures at www.elindarelius.no and I've joined Bluessky: @elindarelius.bsky.social

My colleague Petra Langebroek at NORCE and I have written three books (photo novels) about "Klima Ninja". These are available here: KLIMA-NINJA. 

Teaching

GEOF337 and GEOF232: Responsible for fieldwork

GEO213

Publications
2025
2016
2005
2023
2018
2003
2008
2015
2019
2021
2014
2013
2006
2020
2012
2007
2022
2017
2010
2024
2009
2011

See a complete overview of publications in Cristin.

Projects

FJO2RD: The effect of climate change on the deep water - renewal frequency of Norwegian fjords (NFR)

CLIFORD: CLImate change and sustainability in Norwegian FjORDs (BCCR)

KeyPOCP: Studies of Key Polar Ocean and Climate Processes with high resolution coupled climate models (NFR)

SUSTAINABLE NORWEGIAN FJORDS IN THE ANTHROPOCENE: J. Bettencourt, Post Doc Project. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101034309