investigated what these organisms are and how they are affected by the melting ice in the northern Fram Strait. They present their findings in the journal Science of The Total Environment .

Bacterioplankton Abundance Is Linked to Distinct Water Masses and Summertime Phytoplankton Bloom Dynamics (Fram Strait, 79°N). Frontiers in Microbiology, 12 (658803). Fadeev, E., Salter, I., Schourup-Kristensen [...] Engel, A., Piontek, J., Boetius, A., Bienhold, C. (2018): Microbial Communities in the East and West Fram Strait During Sea Ice Melting Season. Frontiers in Marine Science. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2018.00429 Rapp [...] , Boetius, A., Ramette, A. (2013): Biogeography of benthic bacteria at regional scale in the deep Fram Strait (LTER HAUSGARTEN, Arctic), PLOS One 8:9, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0072779 Further Links:

determines the sea ice volume flux in Fram Strait region and other key areas. Results are used to quantify whether coupled sea ice ocean models are capable of reproducing Fram Strait sea ice volume fluxes correctly [...] of Arctic sea ice are changes of ice volume export rates through major gates of the Arctic, such as Fram Strait. The Sea Ice Physics group investigates to what extent ice volume loss through major export

changes in the warm northward flow, we monitor the Atlantic Water in the West Spitsbergen Current in Fram Strait by use of an oceanographic mooring array since 1997. Surface waters are densified through cooling [...] storing) Beaufort Gyre, and the Transpolar Drift, which drives the freshwater towards Greenland and Fram Strait from where it is eventually exported to the subpolar North Atlantic. The Arctic freshwater [...] contributes to a destabilization of the Greenland ice streams. We observed Atlantic water warming in Fram Strait and this water is likely to affect the (presently) stable North East Greenland ice stream (NEGIS)

only (Fram Strait). The western, sea ice-dominated, part of Fram Strait proved to have short, late (middle May) and time varying phytoplankton blooms. At the marginal sea ice zone of the western Fram Strait [...] warm and salty Atlantic waters, experienced earlier (end of April) and longer blooms. In the eastern Fram Strait, stratification due to solar warming proved to act as a guiding factor for the the open ocean [...] Boetius, A. (2014) Influence of the physical environment on phytoplankton blooms: a case study in the Fram Strait , Journal of Marine Systems, 132 , pp. 196-207. doi: 10.1016/j.jmarsys.2013.11.008 , hdl:10013/epic

deployed. We also took many water and sediment samples and videos which are part of the work of the FRAM infrastructure. This has kept many of us busy, but also happy with the success. We will tell you more

in the past, was densely covered with ice, including multiyear ice. The journey from the northern Fram Strait to the Pole only took six days to complete. To mark this momentous event, countless members

oceanographic, biological and biogeochemical workload planned along the zonal transect through central Fram Strait along 78°50’N. Subsequently we added to the mooring array deployed along the Greenwich Meridian

freshwater. Major pathways of the export are the East Greenland Current and sea ice flux through Fram Strait. Inflow of saline water from the South is equivalent to a fresh water export. Fresh water from [...] satellite remote sensing and regional airbornesea ice thickness measurements. Oceanographic moorings in Fram Strait provide estimates of liquid fresh water transport. Once validated, the models can be used for

the marine habitats of the High North. This is indicated by data from long-term observations in the Fram Strait, which researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) have now analysed. Their most important