During the N-ICE2015 drift expedition north-west of Svalbard, we observed the establishment and development of algal communities in first-year ice (FYI) ridges and at the snow-ice interface. Despite some indications of being hot spots for biological activity, ridges are under-studied largely because they are complex structures that are difficult to sample. Snow infiltration communities can grow at ...

The Barents Sea is undergoing rapid ocean warming with less sea ice and increased Atlantic inflow, shifting the pelagic ecosystem towards a more boreal one, a process referred to as Atlantification. While such changes have already been documented in the southern and central Barents Sea, less is known about the degree of Atlantification in the northern Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean. In this seasonal ...

The large declines in Arctic sea-ice age and extent over the last decades could have altered the diversity of sea-ice associated unicellular eukaryotes (referred to as sea-ice protists). A time series from the Russian ice-drift stations from the 1980s to the 2010s revealed changes in community composition and diversity of sea-ice protists from the Central Arctic Ocean. However, these observations ...

A baseline study of hard-bottom zoobenthos in relation to environmental gradients in Kongsfjorden, a glacial fjord in Svalbard, is presented, based on collections from 1996 to 1998. The total species richness in 62 samples from 0 to 30 m depth along five transects was 403 species. Because 32 taxa could not be identified to species level and because 11 species are probably new to science, the ...

The decrease in Arctic sea-ice extent and thickness as a result of global warming will impact the timing, duration, magnitude and composition of phytoplankton production with cascading effects on Arctic marine food-webs and biogeochemical cycles. Here, we elucidate the environmental drivers shaping the composition, abundance, biomass, trophic state and vertical flux of protists (unicellular eukaryotes), ...

Climate models predict extended periods with sea-ice free Arctic waters during the next decade, which will allow more shipping activity and easier access to petroleum resources. Increased industrial activities raise concerns about the biological effects of accidental petroleum release on key species of the Arctic marine ecosystem, such as the polar cod (<i>Boreogadus saida</i>). This study examines ...

In colonially breeding marine predators, individual movements and colonial segregation are influenced by seascape characteristics. Tidewater glacier fronts are important features of the Arctic seascape and are often described as foraging hotspots. Albeit their documented importance for wildlife, little is known about their structuring effect on Arctic predator movements and space use. In this study, ...

Hydroids in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, were studied on five hard-bottom transects along gradients of environmental conditions from the glacier at the fjord’s head to the fjord’s mouth at depth-range 0–30 m. Hydrozoa colonies are widely distributed on rock and gravel substrata in Kongsfjorden. In general, however, hydroids are not dominant or subdominant in zoobenthic communities. The exception is ...

The main goals of this study are to discuss the effects of tidewater glacier retreat on fjord biogeochemistry based on observational and modeling evidence collected in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, and on published studies. We here present a fjord conceptual model, including a benthic compartment, to visualize the biogeochemical fluxes between the sediments and the water column.

The Arctic icescape is rapidly transforming from a thicker multiyear ice cover to a thinner and largely seasonal first-year ice cover with significant consequences for Arctic primary production. One critical challenge is to understand how productivity will change within the next decades. Recent studies have reported extensive phytoplankton blooms beneath ponded sea ice during summer, indicating ...