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SAS session at ISAR-7 in Tokyo

Image of call-for-abstracts flyer of ISAR-7

On March 6-10, 2023, the Seventh International Symposium on Arctic Research (ISAR-7) will take place in Tachikawa, Tokyo, Japan.

SAS has organized a special session (S4) to discuss the results from SAS cruises and provide an opportunity to start the synthesis phase.

All researchers related to SAS are encouraged to attend the SAS session. Please submit your abstract at the ISAR-7 webpage before October 31, 2022:

https://www.jcar.org/isar-7/abstract/

We hope to see you in Tokyo next year!

 

ISAR-7 session description:

(S4) Synoptic Arctic Survey – international collaboration for Arctic Ocean transdisciplinary studies

Main convener: Shigeto Nishino; Co-conveners: Carin Ashjian, Kumiko Azetsu-Scott, Kyoung-Ho Cho, Jacqueline Grebmeier, Jianfeng He, Motoyo Itoh, Sung-Ho Kang, Are Olsen, Øyvind Paasche, William Williams, Michiyo Yamamoto-Kawai

Synoptic Arctic Survey (SAS) is a coordinated multi-ship, multi-nation, pan-Arctic, ship-based sampling campaign during 2020-2022 to study pan-Arctic ocean-circulation, biogeochemical cycles, and marine ecosystems. In this session, we discuss the results from SAS cruises and transdisciplinary scientific issues ultimately to assess risks and to develop policies that allow effective management.

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Synoptic Arctic Survey community meeting

A Synoptic Arctic Survey community meeting was held on March 31st, in conjunction with the Arctic Science Summit Week in Tromsø. This was a hybrid meeting, with altogether approximately 40 scientists, program managers and early career scientists attending. Everyone thought it was really nice to meet and interact in person again, after two years with only virtual meetings.

The SAS has evolved into a massive effort with a lot of cruises conducted in 2020 and 2021, and some planned for 2022. Partners from Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, South Korea, Sweden and the USA presented past and future cruises. We were in particular impressed by the unique data collected on the German/Russian/Swiss “Arctic Century expedition” to the Barents and Laptev Seas, and troubled by the challenges that this important collaboration is facing in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

We further discussed how to proceed with the synthesis phase that the Synoptic Arctic Survey is now entering. Data sharing and authors for the different papers are issues that need to be resolved in the coming year. We ended the day by enjoying freshly caught cod – or skrei – from the Lofoten area.

The report from the meeting is available here and most of the presentations are available below:

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Nansen Legacy Arctic Basin Cruise

As a Norwegian contribution to this year’s (2021) Synoptic Arctic Survey, the Arctic Basin cruise extended the sampling transect of Nansen Legacy project from the northern Barents Sea shelf and slope into the deep central Arctic Ocean. Using the Norwegian research icebreaker ‘Kronprins Haakon’, the team was able to investigate the Nansen and Amundsen Basin as well as the Gakkel Ridge separating the two basins during a five-week long expedition.

The Nansen Legacy Arctic Basin cruise covered a transect of 2330 km extending from the Nansen Basin NE of the Svalbard slope in the south to the northern part of the Amundsen Basin just south of the Lomonosov Ridge in the north. The geographic bounding box spanned 81.46-87.51°N and 31.34°E-21.53°W and covered a depth range of ca. 2800-4800 m, with sampling covering 2817-4290 m.
The Nansen Legacy Arctic Basin cruise covered a transect of 2330 km extending from the Nansen Basin NE of the Svalbard slope in the south to the northern part of the Amundsen Basin just south of the Lomonosov Ridge in the north. The geographic bounding box spanned 81.46-87.51°N and 31.34°E-21.53°W and covered a depth range of ca. 2800-4800 m, with sampling covering 2817-4290 m.

The scientific team on board was highly interdisciplinary, consisting of 34 participants including physical and chemical oceanographers, ice physicists, ecotoxicologists and biologists as well as safety and helicopter teams. About half of the science team consisted of early career researchers. Chief scientists were Agneta Fransson, Norwegian Polar Institute, and Bodil Bluhm, UiT The Arctic University of Norway.

Sampling efforts focused on sea ice and upper ocean work as well as connectivity to the mid and deep water column and underlying sediments. In addition, the role of transport of elements and organisms from the Siberian shelves through the Transpolar Drift was investigated. Indications of water masses with chemical signatures of the Transpolar Drift were encountered at the northernmost station at 87.5˚N and 17˚W.

The Nansen Legacy Arctic Basin Cruise took place at roughly the same time (Aug-Sep 2021) as the Swedish icebreaker ‘Oden’ was on its SAS expedition in the nearby region between Northeast Greenland and the North Pole.

Written by Lena Seuthe, Scientific advisor Nansen Legacy