Category: Updates

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NEW DATE: SAS April Webinar

April 22nd – Arctic Science Snapshots: Early Career Scientists, 16:00-17:30 (CEST)

In this SAS-webinar, Early Career Scientists (ECS) will present snapshots of their research in the Arctic. Short and concise presentations covering ongoing or planned studies of changes in physical oceanography, marine ecosystems as well as carbon cycle and ocean acidification.

Contribution from the participants in the SAS-Oden expedition July-September 2021:

Lennart Gerke (PhD-student, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research GEOMAR, Germany): Ventilation Timescales, Anthropogenic Carbon and Variability in the Arctic Ocean – Ventilation and anthropogenic carbon storage in the Arctic Ocean provided by transient tracer data. E-mail: lgerke@geomar.de

Yannis Arck (PhD-student, Heidelberg University, Germany): Ventilation Timescales, Anthropogenic Carbon and Variability in the Arctic Ocean – A combination of stable noble gas isotopes with Ar39 and C14 applied on arctic ocean ventilation and sea ice formation E-mail: yannis.arck@iup.uni-heidelberg.de

Claudia Morys (Postdoc, Stockholm University, Sweden): Driving factors for regional variation in benthic species communities in the Central Arctic Ocean. E-mail: claudia.morys@su.se

Flor Vermassen (Postdoc, Stockholm University, Sweden): Arctic invasions of sub-polar planktonic foraminifers in the past and present – The hunt for Turborotalita. E-mail: flor.vermassen@gmail.com

Christien Laber (Postdoc, Linnaeus University, Sweden) Grazing and viral lysis of picophytoplankton in the Central Arctic Ocean. E-mail: christien.laber@lnu.se

Ashish Verma (Postdoc, Umeå University, Sweden): Maintenance respiration and morphological adaptations of prokaryotes in the Central Arctic Ocean. E-mail: ashish.verma@umu.se

Lisa Winberg von Friesen (PhD-student, University of Copenhagen, Denmark): An overlooked source of nitrogen? Diazotrophy in the Central Arctic Ocean. E-mail: lisa.vonfriesen@bio.ku.dk

Birthe Zäncker (Postdoc, The Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, UK): Production and export of phytoplankton-derived organic matter in the changing Arctic Ocean – Role of parasites, saprotrophs and mineral ballasting. E-mail: birzan@mba.ac.uk

Eun Yae Son (PhD-student, Graduate school of frontier science, The University of Tokyo, Japan): Turbulent mixing in the western Arctic from the Mirai cruises (tentative). E-mail: son-eun-yae792@g.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp

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Update on SAS session at ASSW2021

SAS has a session on ASSW2021. Submit abstracts through the ASSW21 website https://assw2021.pt/

The new deadline is Dec 10, 2020.

 

ASSW21 Theme: Observing the Arctic

Session ID: 17 – The Synoptic Arctic Survey (SAS) Activities

Abstract

The Central Arctic Ocean remains profoundly understudied, particularly carbon cycling, ecosystem alteration, and associated changes in atmosphere, ice and ocean physics that influence those biological and biogeochemical systems. The region is expected to continue to make marked changes over the next decades, driven by ongoing climate warming, yet our understanding of key process is limited for this area. The international Synoptic Arctic Survey (SAS) seeks to quantify the present states of the physical, biological, and biogeochemical systems of the Arctic Ocean. Multiple countries have both confirmed and pending cruises as part of the 2020/2021 SAS networked activities. Key goals of the SAS are to establish the present state of the Arctic system, to document temporal changes where possible through comparison with historical data, and to quantify linkages between the adjacent shelves, slopes, and deep basins, objectives that are shared with the broader Pan-Arctic effort of the composite SAS. The SAS consists of regional shelf-to-basin ship-based surveys in 2020 and 2021 to obtain a Pan-Arctic understanding of essential ocean variables (EOVs) on a quasi-synoptic, spatially distributed basis in which no single nation bears the full burden of collecting the requisite data. The multi-country field effort will provide a strong basis for educational opportunities for early career scientists. This SAS session will outline the benchmark and important legacy for SAS activities to future, quasi-decadal assessments of rapid and evolving Arctic Ocean system change. Updates on the 2020 SAS field program results and upcoming national plans for 2021 activities will be provided during the session.

Key-words

Central Arctic Ocean, Pan-Arctic, ecosystem, climate change

Conveners

Jacqueline M. Grebmeier | University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, Solomons, Maryland, USA
Oyvind Paasche | Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research and NORCE Climate, Bergen, Norway
Christina Goethel | University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, Solomons, Maryland, USA

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Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) Meeting

On the 11th of June, a virtual SSC meeting was held. It dealt with updates from planned SAS expeditions, the construction of a new SAS data portal, as well as upcoming meetings and webinars suchs as the Arctic Science Ministerial Meeting and next year’s Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW). A brief summary of relevant updates are provided in the following. 

Despite the COVID-19 situation many of the SAS cruises are still going as planned in 2020, whereas others are postponed until 2021 or even 2022. The cruises going as planned in 2020 include the Korean and Japanese cruises in the Pacific Central Arctic Ocean from August 8 to September 4 (Korea) and from 13 October to 22 October (Japan), and the Norwegian/Russian contribution in the Barents Sea in August/September, the Canada/USA/EU cruise in Davis Strait from August 22 to September 17, and the Canada/USA/Japan cruise in the Beaufort Gyre from September 14 to to October 3. 

SSC was also informed about two potentially new SAS cruises planned for 2021 which we were delighted to learn about. Karen Edelvang presented the Danish contribution “Polar DREAM 2021 – From glacier to glacier”, a survey consisting of three ships that will take measurements at 1) the glacier front and shelf break on the south-eastern parts of Greenland, 2) the glacier front and shelf break in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, and 3) across Fram Strait. 

Vito Vitale gave a presentation on the tentative plans for the Italian 2021 summer expedition with the newly acquired icebreaker Laura Bassi. This expedition can potentially contribute with physical, biological, atmospheric, and geological/geophysical measurements outside the west coast of Svalbard which will be most valuable to SAS and the international community. 

Details on these cruises in addition to plans for all SAS expeditions can be found in the cruise matrix from the “Expeditions” tab. This table has updated information on all cruises in collaboration with SAS.