Featured works
Increased light availability in the northern Barents Sea driven by sea ice loss
Here, we modelled the year-round underwater light conditions in the Barents Sea over the past four decades. We found that phytoplankton can now start growing one month earlier in the northern Barents Sea, due to sea ice loss that drastically increased underwater light in spring. I led this work, which was mainly done during my 1.5 year research stay at University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.
Light: Polar Night and Midnight Sun (Book chapter)
Together with Børge Hamre, David McKee and Mats Granskog, I wrote a subchapter on light as an environmental factor for the new book "The Barents Sea system", meant to become a new key resource for students, researchers and stakeholders working with the Barents Sea. I was the main author on the subchapter and also contributed to other parts of the book.
https://fagbokforlaget.no/produkt/9788245050271-the-barents-sea-system
Seasonality and drivers of water column optical properties on the northwestern Barents Sea shelf
Here, we conducted comprehensive bio-optical measurements in the northern Barents Sea in March and May 2021, as part of the large research project "the Nansen Legacy". We found that optical properties has a strong seasonality, and that phytoplankton is the main driver of optical variability in the region. I processed and analysed the majority of the data and was the main author of the manuscript. It was done as part of my researcher position at the Norwegian Polar Institute.
In situ measurements of the volume scattering function with LISST-VSF and LISST-200X in extreme environments: Evaluation of instrument calibration and validity
This was the main article in my PhD project, where I worked with novel scattering measurements from the LISST-VSF and LISST-200X instruments in the Arctic Ocean, coastal waters on Svalbard and in the laboratory. The instruments were calibrated with polystyrene beads and evaluated with the field measurements. Multiple scattering was found to be a considerable error source, which we have expanded upon in latter work. I conducted the fieldwork and experimental analysis, and was the main author of the study.
Selected co-authorships
Simulating and correcting scattering measurements
Building of my findings from turbid coastal waters, we developed a Monte Carlo model for simulating multiple scattering effects on the detected scattering signal. With this model, we found that this error source can be significant (>10%) even for moderate scattering levels (~1/m). Further, we developed a neural network to correct these measurements. This work was lead by Håvard Ugulen with me as one of the main co-authors.
https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.419116
https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.446045
https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.495523
Interdisciplinary Polar Research
I've contributed to several multi- and cross-disciplinary studies linked around oceanography and marine biology in the Arctic—supporting experts in their respective fields with my knowledge on marine lightscapes and processing of bio-optical data sets. Moreover, I've participated in a study on sub-surface melting in Antarctic blue ice areas, where light penetrates deep into the glacier ice, creating possible ecological habitats in an otherwise extreme environment.
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-455-2022
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2023.103174
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01487-4
Datasets and preprints
Datasets
Published datasets can be even more scientifically valuable than peer-reviewed articles, and there might be as much work behind them as the "normal" papers. They may also be difficult to find, since they rarely show up on Google Scholar. Here, I've tried to gather all published datasets I've been part of so far. Hopefully, I'll add a a lot more to this list in the upcoming years.
Dodd, P. A., Buckley, S., Campbell, K., Chierici, M., Divine, D., Eggen, V., Fransson, A., Araujo, R. G., Granskog, M. A., Hop, H., Kern, Y., Koenig, Z., Lange, B. A., Lenss, M., Misund, O. A., Muilwijk, M., Nikolopoulos, A., Osanen, J., Raffel, B., ... De la Torre, P. (2022). CTD profiles from NPI cruise AO-2022 across the Nansen and Amundsen Basins of the Arctic Ocean and core parameters measured from niskin bottle samples. [Dataset]. Norwegian Polar Institute. https://doi.org/10.21334/NPOLAR.2022.D1E609E2
Sandven, H., Granskog, M., Petit, T., Röttgers, R., & Hamre, B. (2023). In situ spectral beam attenuation and absorption coefficients of sea water in the northern Barents Sea: Nansen Legacy Cruise Q2 (2021704) [Dataset]. Norwegian Polar Institute. https://doi.org/10.21334/NPOLAR.2023.71E9F1E8
Sandven, H., Granskog, M., Petit, T., Röttgers, R., & Hamre, B. (2023). In situ spectral beam attenuation and absorption coefficients of sea water in the northern Barents Sea: Nansen Legacy Cruise Q1 (2021703) [Dataset]. Norwegian Polar Institute. https://doi.org/10.21334/NPOLAR.2023.38808452
Sandven, H., Granskog, M., Petit, T., Röttgers, R., & Hamre, B. (2023). CDOM and particulate absorption coefficients of sea water in the northern Barents Sea: Nansen Legacy Cruise Q2 (2021704) [Dataset]. Norwegian Polar Institute. https://doi.org/10.21334/NPOLAR.2023.9769A8B4
Sandven, H., Granskog, M., Petit, T., Röttgers, R., & Hamre, B. (2023). CDOM and particulate absorption coefficients of sea water in the northern Barents Sea: Nansen Legacy Cruise Q1 (2021703) [Dataset]. Norwegian Polar Institute. https://doi.org/10.21334/NPOLAR.2023.94BE39D0
Storheim, E., Sandven, H., Tessin, E., Sagen, H., Monsen, F., Olaussen, T., Hamre, T. (2022). Smart Ocean: CTD data collected in Bjørnafjorden and Langenuen, May 2022. https://doi.org/doi:10.21335/NMDC-NERSC-1462347865
Storheim, E., Sandven, H., Tessin, E., Stallemo, A., Moldrheim, M., Skar, A., Larsen, K., Pira, M., Sagen, T., Kosolyuthasarn, K., Abdallah, M., Sagen, H., Monsen, F., Olaussen, T., Hamre, T. (2022). Smart Ocean: CTD data collected in Bjørnafjorden and Langenuen, November 2021 [Dataset]. Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center. https://doi.org/doi:10.21335/NMDC-NERSC-1959537284
Sandven, H., Petit, T., Stallemo, A., Bergh, E., Klockmann, F., Økland, H., Knutsen, J., Galtung, K. Lunde, M., Matias Helleve, M., Eryilmaz, N., & Sagen, T. (2020) Optical property measurements collected in Storfjorden, Svalbard, during the UAK 2020 Cruise [Dataset]. Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center. https://doi.org/doi:10.21335/NMDC-NERSC-1741962272
Current preprints
Stacey Connan-McGinty, Håkon Sandven, Neil S Banas, et al. Advancing the HEIMDALL model: seasonal spectral irradiance through the Pan-Arctic icescape. ESS Open Archive . February 18, 2025. https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.173991250.05381697/v1