Long-term observations in the Arctic Ocean

The Arctic is an environment where global climate change is strongly manifested. The Arctic Amplification, represented by the atmospheric warming trend in the Arctic being about three times that of the global average, is also manifested in sea-ice and the ocean. We are establishing a strong baseline of important ocean quantities in a historically poorly observed region of the world. Additionally, we monitor and study the variability of the Arctic Ocean freshwater content and of the northward transport of warm and salty water from the Atlantic into the Arctic. For this we use a variety of autonomous systems in addition to icebreaker-based surveys. Our focus areas are the boundary current from the Fram Strait to the Siberian Arctic and the upper Arctic basin. There is a strong link between the variability of physical parameters in the ocean that we observe and changes in biogeochemistry and the ecosystem.

Fram Strait / West Spitsbergen

Atlantic Water is the main oceanic source of heat, salt, and nutrients of the Arctic Ocean. It enters the Arctic Ocean through the Barents Sea or Fram Strait. In the eastern Fram Strait, Atlantic Water flows northward in the West Spitsbergen Current…

Central Arctic Ocean

The central Arctic is an important component of the global climate system, not only by atmospheric teleconnections but also by links in ocean circulation to lower latitudes. There, the gyre circulation and the meridional overturning may be affected by…

Observing Systems and -technologies

In addition to surveys with icebreaker support (profiles of temperature and salinity with devices from the ship and from nearby ice floes) there is an international effort to use autonomous drifting ice-tethered buoy systems for atmosphere-ice-ocean…