The CASSANDRA Oceanographic Cruise is imminent

Figure 1: R/V Laura Bassi.

The Italian contribution to SAS. The CASSANDRA (AdvanCing knowledge on the present Arctic Ocean by chemical-phySical, biogeochemical and biological obServAtioNs to predict the futuRe chAnges) project was recently approved as part of the Italian Arctic Research Program (PRA), and an Arctic oceanographic cruise is planned on board the R/V “Laura Bassi” (Figure 1).

The CASSANDRA oceanographic cruise will have 15 researchers on board and will depart from Longyearbyen (Svalbard Islands) on 29 August and arrive in Bergen (Norway) on 14 September 2021. The project is coordinated by the Italian Institute of Polar Sciences (ISP) and involves the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (INOGS) as a participant.

CASSANDRA project seeks to quantify the present state of the physical, chemical, biological and biogeochemical systems of a sub-Arctic historic transect at 75°N crossing the Greenland Sea Gyre (Figure 2). As part of the Synoptic Arctic Survey (SAS), CASSANDRA will operate with a multidisciplinary approach, making use of common protocols.

Figure 2: Working area and Transect (46 stations) across the Greenland Sea Gyre (from 75°N 16°E to 75°N 13°W).
Figure 2: Working area and Transect (46 stations) across the Greenland Sea Gyre (from 75°N 16°E to 75°N 13°W).

Emphasis of the project will be also devoted to understanding the major ongoing transformations on the water masses, the marine ecosystem and the carbon cycle. Other relevant measurements along the route of the vessel without interference with navigation will be made: upper layer currents by hull mounted ADCP, surface temperature and salinity by thermosalinograph, broadband shortwave and longwave radiation fluxes, automatic observation of cloudiness conditions, meteo parameters, and sampling activities of biological aerosol.

CASSANDRA will train young researchers and create opportunities to promote the next generation of polar researchers. We chose the name CASSANDRA because today the environmental message manages to permeate more and more, both in the social strata of the population and at the political level, and we would like to dispel your legend of unheard Prophetess.

 

 

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

SAS March Webinar

 

 

March 16th – Large-Scale Arctic Insights, 14:00 – 15:30 UTC (15:00 – 16:30 CET)

The Arctic Ocean is brimming with change. In SAS, we’re trying to approach and understand the totality of change and how it potentially connects the different compartments of the ocean. In this new March seminar we are extremely happy to present a diverse set of excellent speakers who will share recent insights on large scale Arctic oceanography, biology, and biogeochemistry in the spirit of the SAS. All are welcome to join. 

Mary-Louise Timmermans (Yale University): Ocean heat and freshwater dynamics and change in the Canadian Basin

Bodil Bluhm (University of Tromsø): Bio-physical coupling on the pan-Artic continental slope

Jens Terhaar (University of Bern): Around one third of current Arctic Ocean primary production sustained by rivers and coastal erosion

 

REGISTER HERE

SAS January Webinar

The planning of the 2021 field season is well underway, and several important Synoptic Arctic Survey (SAS) cruises will take place.

On this occasion we would like to invite you to join the SAS January Webinar, where we will be learning about some of these cruises, and the finer details that goes into biological sampling programs. We will also learn the latest about drivers of Arctic ocean acidification.

There will be time for questions and discussions after each presentation.

Date, time and location:

January 28. 2021

14:00 – 15:30 UTC (15:00 – 16:30 CET)

Online, see details below

 

Presenters

Pauline Snoeijs Leijonmalm (Stockholm University)

­Organizing a biological core parameter program for the SAS-Oden 2021 expedition

Heidemarie Kassens (GEOMAR)

Arctic Century – International expedition onboard research icebreaker Akademik Tryoshnikov 

Karl Adam Ulfsbo (University of Gothenburg)

Drivers of ocean acidification in the Arctic Ocean

 

The Webinar will take place in GoToMeeting. Please submit your e-mail in this form to get the meeting ID and password (the contact will only be used for this webinar, and the list will be deleted after two months).

Feel free to distribute this throughout your community and network.

See you there!

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

Watch the SAS November Webinar; Reporting back from the Arctic Ocean

November 19, 2020

Reports from the SAS cruise activity in 2020 from the national representatives;

0:04:03: Dr Shigeto Nishino (JAMSTEC) Reporting from the Japanese contribution from Bering Strait, Chukchi Sea, and Canada Basin with R/V Mirai.

0:17:25: Dr Kyoung-Ho Cho (KOPRI) Reporting from the Korean contribution from Bering Strait and Chukchi Sea with R/V Araon.

0:24:45: Dr Kumiko Asetzu-Scott (DFO) Reporting from the USA/Canada/Denmark/Greenland contribution from Davis Strait, Baffin Bay, and Labrador Sea with R/V Dana.

0:37:00: Dr Bill Williams (DFO) Reporting from the USA/Canada/Japan contribution from the Beaufort Sea and Canada Basin with CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent.

Updates on planned cruises;

0:54:30: Dr Mats Granskog (Norwegian Polar Institute) Cruise plans for Fram Strait (Norwegian Polar Institute) and Arctic Ocean (Nansen Legacy) with Kronprins Haakon.

MOSAiC:

1:01:00: Dr Carin Ashjian (WHOI) Presentation from the recent MOSAiC expedition.

SAS November Webinar

CTD, R/V Mirai 2020, Western Arctic Ocean.

The Synoptic Arctic Survey (SAS) completed four cruises this fall in the Western Arctic Ocean, where the latest one with R/V Mirai just arrived back in Shimizu (Japan) from the Canada Basin.

On this occasion, we would like to invite you to join the SAS November Webinar where representatives from each cruise will report back from the expeditions. Much changed because of the pandemic, but most cruises still carried out their sampling program and collected physical, chemical, and biological measurements that will become part of SAS’s pan-arctic dataset.

In addition to the cruise reports, there will be an update on “ARCTIC CENTURY”, the Russian/Swiss/German contribution to SAS 2021 that will sample across the Kara Sea with the icebreaker Akademik Tryoshnikov. We will also see some highlights from the recent yearlong MOSAiC cruise.

There will be time for questions and discussion after the last talk.

Date, time, and location:

November 19, 2020
15:00 – 17:00 CET
Online, see details below.

Presenters:

Dr Shigeto Nishino (JAMSTEC) Reporting from the Japanese contribution from Bering Strait, Chukchi Sea, and Canada Basin with R/V Mirai.
 
Dr Kyoung-Ho Cho (KOPRI) – Reporting from the Korean contribution from Bering Strait and Chukchi Sea with R/V Araon.

Dr Kumiko Asetzu-Scott (DFO) – Reporting from the USA/Canada/Denmark/Greenland contribution from Davis Strait, Baffin Bay, and Labrador Sea with R/V Dana.

Dr Bill Williams (DFO) – Reporting from the USA/Canada/Japan contribution from the Beaufort Sea and Canada Basin with CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent.

Dr Heidi Marie Kassens (GEOMAR) – Update on «ARCTIC CENTURY» 2021.

Dr Carin Ashjian (WHOI) – Presentation from the recent MOSAiC expedition.
 
The Webinar will take place in GoToMeeting. Please email anne.meisingset@uib.no to get the meeting ID and password.

Feel free to distribute this throughout your community and network.

See you there!

Mascots of R/V Mirai’s mother port Mutsu (Japan) together with a sediment trap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best regards,

Anne Kari Meisingset
SAS Coordinator

SAS on Arctic Science Summit Week 2021

Good news!

SAS will lead a session during next year’s online Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) 20 to 26 March.

Session name: “The International Synoptic Arctic Survey (SAS) Program in the High Arctic”

Chairs: Jacqueline Grebmeier (CBL/UMCES, USA), Øyvind Paasche (Norway), and Christina Goethel (CBL/UMCES, USA)

More information will come in December.

SAS fall Webinar “A New Arctic Emerging” on September 2

Thanks to our three speakers and to everyone who attended the Webinar! Watch it above.


 

The Synotic Arctic Survey (SAS) is still going strong despite the situation with Covid-19. On this occasion, we would like to bring you up to speed on the status of the Arctic Ocean and of SAS and hereby invite you to join the Synoptic Arctic Survey’s fall Webinar “A New Arctic Emerging” on September 2, 15:00 – 17:00 (UTC +2).

This Webinar will address the Arctic Ocean in response to present and future climate change with focus on marine physical, biogeochemical, and ecological processes, and emphasizes the underlying question behind SAS’s science plan: What are the present state and major ongoing transformations of the Arctic marine system?

There will be three solicited talks with room for questions and discussions:

1. Andrey Proshutinsky (WHOI)Freshwater in the Beaufort Gyre; accumulation, release processes, and their influence on Arctic circulation and climate.

2. Ryan Woosley (MiT)Freshening of the western Arctic and the impacts on anthropogenic carbon uptake potential.

3. Marit Reigstad (UiT)Understanding the driving mechanisms and potential fate of increased primary production in the Arctic.

The Webinar will take place in GoToMeeting, and moderated by Øyvind Paasche, the Chair of SAS’ Scientific Steering Committee.

If you are interested in joining, please email Anne Kari Meisingset at anne.meisingset(@)uib.no to get the meeting ID.

Hope to see you there!

 

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.