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The ability to understand and predict environmental changes in Svalbard is highly dependent on the availability of detailed and long-term records of baseline environmental data from a regional network across the archipelago. The Kapp Linné region provides a strategic location for a dedicated long-term environmental observatory in the western coastal region of the Nordenskiöldland Peninsula. This region is greatly influenced by the Atlantic High Arctic maritime climate regime (Eckerstorfer and Christiansen 2011) with higher mean annual air temperature and greater precipitation than the more continental interior regime in central Spitsbergen (Humlum 2002). With the recent intensified Atlantification of the northern Barents Sea (Nilsen et al. 2016; Barton et al. 2018), environmental monitoring studies along the Nordenskiöldland coast may help to serve as an early warning system for climate change and accompanying environmental responses across the Svalbard archipelago. 

ABSTRACT The direct carbonate procedure for accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14 C) dating of submilligram samples of biogenic carbonate without graphitization is becoming widely used in a variety of studies. We compare the results of 153 paired direct carbonate and standard graphite 14 C determinations on single specimens of an assortment of biogenic carbonates. A reduced major axis regression shows a strong relationship between direct carbonate and graphite percent Modern Carbon (pMC) values (m = 0.996; 95% CI [0.991–1.001]). An analysis of differences and a 95% confidence interval on pMC values reveals that there is no significant difference between direct carbonate and graphite pMC values for 76% of analyzed specimens, although variation in direct carbonate pMC is underestimated. The difference between the two methods is typically within 2 pMC, with 61% of direct carbonate pMC measurements being higher than their paired graphite counterpart. Of the 36 specimens that did yield significant differences, all but three missed the 95% significance threshold by 1.2 pMC or less. These results show that direct carbonate 14 C dating of biogenic carbonates is a cost-effective and efficient complement to standard graphite 14 C dating. 

Review of hydroclimate, limnology, periglacial geomorphology and permafrost monitoring in the App Linne-Gronfjorden region of Svalbard, and recommendations for future research.