NEWS During fall there has been a febrile activity in the workshop at Umeå Marine Sciences Center. Within the international project AQUACOSM, UMF will develop a type of mesocosm that can withstand harsh arctic conditions. Now the first prototypes are in the water.
A mesocosm is a container that contains enough water to accommodate almost an entire ecosystem. In the isolated environment, researchers may vary different factors and create scenarios.
Two prototypes have been built on UMF and they are now anchored in the bay outside the station. There they will be all winter until the ice melts in spring. The two prototypes are designed in a few different ways to test function and durability."There has been a lot of thinking and technical problem solving. Now it's going to be exciting to see how the structures can withstand a winter in the ice", says Henrik Larsson, research engineer at UMF.
The approximately 4.5 meter high prototypes consist of an aluminum frame carrying a strong transparent polyurethane bag that holds 9 cubic meters of water. On the frame there are floating elements attached.
"The mesocosms are then anchored in ropes to concrete weights on the bottom to not flow away. We use a suspension in the moorings, but it is difficult to say how much power they will be exposed to if the ice begins to move", says Henrik Larsson.
Editor: Markus Nordin