We report the first observations of settled blue mussels Mytilus edulis L. in the high Arctic Archipelago of Svalbard for the first time since the Viking Age. A scattered population was discovered at a single site at the mouth of Isfjorden in August 2004. Our data indicate that most mussels settled there as spat in 2002, and that larvae were transported by the West Spitsbergen Current northwards from the Norwegian coast to Svalbard the same year. This extension of the blue mussels' distribution range was made possible by the unusually high northward mass transport of warm Atlantic water resulting in elevated sea-surface temperatures in the North Atlantic and along the west coast of Svalbard.

1997 (March): The Storegga tsunami along the Norwegian coast, its age and runup. Boreas, VoI. 26, pp. 29-53. OSIO. ISSN 0300-9483.The statigraphy in 25 coastal lakes shows that most of the Norwegian coastline was impacted by a large tsunami about 7200 I4C BP. The methodology has been to core a staircase of lake basins above the contemporary sea level in several areas and to map the tsunami deposit to its maximum elevation. The tsunami was identified in the sedimentary record as an erosional unconformity overlain by graded or massive sand with shell fragments, followed by redeposited organic detritus. The greatest recorded runup along the coast (10-11 m above high tide) is found in areas most proximal to the Storegga slide scar on the Norwegian continental slope (Sunnmerre). To the north and south, runup is less, about 6-7 m at Bjugn (250 km north of Sunnmerre) and about 3-5 m in Austrheim (200 km to the south of Sunnmerre). This runup pattern supports the suggestion that the tsunami was generated by the Second Storegga Slide. The recorded runup heights are consistent within and between the investigated areas, and imply that the tsunami wave was not significantly influenced by the local topography, suggesting a very long wave length. The mapped runup estimates are in good agreement with a numerical model of the tsunami generated by the Second Storegga slide, and indicate that the slide was a single major event rather than a set of smaller slides.

In the period from May through June 1994, an increase in the number of domestic cases of Shigella sonnei infection was detected in several European countries, including Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. In all three countries epidemiological evidence incriminated imported iceberg lettuce of Spanish origin as the vehicle of transmission. The outbreaks shared a number of common features: a predominance of adults among the case patients, the presence of double infections with other enteropathogens, and the finding of two dominant phage types among the bacterial isolates. In Norway 110 culture-confirmed cases of infection were recorded; more than two-thirds (73%) were adults aged 30 to 60 years. A nationwide case-control study comprising 47 case patients and 155 matched control individuals showed that the consumption of imported iceberg lettuce was independently associated with an increased risk of shigellosis. Epidemiological investigation of a local outbreak incriminated iceberg lettuce from Spain, consumed from a salad bar, as the source. The presence of shigellae in the suspected food source could not be documented retrospectively. However, high numbers of fecal coliforms were detected in iceberg lettuce from patients' homes. Three lettuce specimens yielded salmonellae. The imported iceberg lettuce harbored Escherichia coli strains showing resistance to several antimicrobial agents, including ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. During the outbreak it is likely that thousands of Norwegians and an unknown number of consumers in other countries were exposed to coliforms containing antibiotic resistance genes.

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