Rissa Citizen Science

10/12/2025

In the last week of November, Øksfjord had a visit from artist Emma Gunnarsson from Arctic Lux. She and the marine protected area manager Anita Holmgren have brought the kelp forest into the classrooms at Høgtun School and up to the health center through art, pictures and stories. Read on to find out more about the week, and the photo exhibition "Nature through our eyes" which is now hanging at the community house.

In the last week of November, Øksfjord had a visit from artist Emma Gunnarsson from Arctic Lux. She and the marine protected area manager Anita Holmgren have brought the kelp forest into the classrooms at Høgtun School and up to the health center through art, pictures and stories.

10/12/2025

✊ Members and participants are the blood and heart of :

Since November 2024, over 2000 participants joined more than 100 events (check the counter on Rissa’s website/HOME!)

✊ Together, we kept an eye on the endangered kittiwake, mapped biodiversity where it is threatened, dived to restore kelp forests, fixed soil erosion in Ånderdalen National Park, hiked with snowshoes for a research project on light pollution, mapped cairns and hiking trails, surveyed campfires in areas affected by overtourism, put up nest boxes for owls and songbirds and ate lots of waffles too!

❤️ Thank you everyone for your support and your engagement for nature.

08/12/2025

🐣 The **s project finished the 2025 nesting season with 202 nestboxes on Tromsøya.

Here is a recap about how the nestboxes have been used by great t**s, blue t**s and pied flycatchers.
The «number of chicks» corresponds to the number of chicks that fledged (those who left the nest).

Additionally, Dr. Tomotani’s team ringed 780 adults & chicks!

💡 One of the goals of the Tromsø T**s project is to better understand the effects of artificial light at night (ALAN) on songbirds, in areas in the Arctic like Tromsø where light pollution is very high.

🤝 is partnering with Dr Tomotani, making it possible for everyone to take part in her research in the field. This is Rissa’s SONGBIRDS project.

We organize events all year round to check the nestboxes, put up new ones, fill the feeding stations, and raise awareness about light pollution in the Arctic. We are currently building and painting nestboxes, from recycled wood, with volunteers as social events.

04/12/2025

The Ocean Green Project is talking about The Urchin Density Challenge!! Have a look :)

The Urchin Density Challenge, launched by Rissa Citizen Science as part of the Ocean Green project, turns real ocean science into an easy activity that feels a bit like sudoku with sea urchins.

04/12/2025

This initative is part of the kelp forest restoration project in Øksfjord Finnmark. Thumbs up to artists Emma Gunnarsson and Anita Holmgren!

27/11/2025

The **s project is led by Dr. Tomotani, chronobiologist at The Arctic University of Norway . One thing the researchers are looking at is the effect of artificial light on songbirds, and in particular on great t**s.

is collaboration with Dr. Tomotani, leading citizen science activities, where participants learn about the project, and contribute to the research project in the field.

We welcome and lead volunteers all year round to control the nestboxes, build and put up new ones, fill feeding stations, and other tasks useful to the research project.

💡💡Light pollution is very high in Tromsø, and the impact of artificial light on songbirds at high latitude is still poorly understood.

🐣 Check out **s to learn more about the project and stay updated!

🐣 Check out the events page on Rissa’s website to join the next outing with snowshoes ❄️❄️

26/11/2025

🎉🎉The teaser is out!!

Film director David Bottin has just released the teaser for his upcoming documentary. Delve into what turned out to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for these 12 teens from La Rochelle.

🎥 Watch the original video on YouTube ()

🤝 A collaboration with

🙏 with support from

25/11/2025

🤿 Well done Kelpers!!

🦦Thanks to our team effort, Sørsjetéen remains a refuge for biodiversity, starting with the foundation of coastal marine life: kelp and other seaweed.

Last Sunday was tough! An early start (09:00), minus 12C and some wind. But the spirit was fantastic.

🙏 Thanks everyone, those in the sea, those on land, helping the divers, making waffles, running the citizen science, keeping the log book or just chit-chatting and sharing stories :)

🤝 These community events are made possible thanks to .

🤝 is our direct partner in Work Package 7 of the Ocean Green project.

20/11/2025

From now on, anyone — anywhere in the world — can contribute to our kelp forest restoration effort in Tromsø!

The Urchin Density Challenge takes citizen science to the next level, inviting people around the world to document biodiversity changes in areas where volunteers are restoring kelp forests.

👉 Read our latest post on Rissa’s website/ BLOG, and give it a try!

🤿 At each KELP event, one of our snorkelers takes around thirty photos of a 50×50 cm frame placed randomly on the seabed, both inside and outside the restoration area. These images help us track changes in sea urchin density and biodiversity over time. And this is where you come in! All you need to do is count the sea urchins you can spot inside the frame.

The first step is to download the Rissa’s mobile app from Google Play or the Apple Store. Open the app, select the Urchin Density Challenge, and start counting urchins!

🙏 is supporting this citizen science initiative 🙏

🤝 and are close partners of The Urchin Density Challenge, and scientific advisors🤝

18/11/2025

🎉 NEW article about kelp restoration in Øksfjord.

👉 Read the story in Rissa’s website/BLOG

🤿 For two weeks in October, a team of volunteers joined us to restore a kelp forest along the Øksfjord jetty. We also had the pleasure of engaging with the local school and local community through outreach activities.

👩‍🎨 Artist Emma Gunnarsson will be back next week with Anita Holmgren the manager of Lopphavet Marine Verneområdet to lead art workshops in nursing homes and schools, but boite they do, we wanted to share our progress with you.

👉 Read the article on Rissa’s website/Blog

🙏 is supporting our project and is making it possible.

📸 All photos are from Ismaele Tortella 🤩🤩