Research project Ecosystem mapping in the Central Arctic Ocean
The marine ecosystem around the North Pole, the Central Arctic Ocean (CAO), is in fast transition from a permanently to a seasonally ice-covered ocean as a result of global warming. The sea-ice loss will enable summer access to the CAO for non-icebreaking ships, including fishery vessels, in the near future and this project is assessing the impact.
The lack of knowledge on the CAO ecosystem impedes any assessment of the sustainability of potential future fisheries in the CAO. To reduce the existing lack of knowledge, the project has collected new ecosystem data during the international MOSAiC expedition (2019-2020) and the Swedish SAS-Oden expedition (2021). Methods used were water-column acoustics, deep-sea video recording, and organism, fossil and eDNA sampling targeting fish, squid and zooplankton. Further ecosystem data (physical, chemical, biological) were collected by the project’s scientists in collaboration with other scientists onboard of the two expeditions. A metadata database containing lists of all collected samples and data that are relevant for future fishery assessment studies will be delivered to the European Commission at the end of the project.
Project members
Project managers
Pauline Snoeijs Leijonmalm
Professor
Members
Helen Coxall
Professor of Marine micropaleontology
Christian Stranne
Associate professor of Marine geophysical mapping and modelling
Flor Vermassen
Researcher
Javier Vargas Calle
Publications
Snoeijs-Leijonmalm, P. and the SAS-Oden 2021 Scientific Party (2022)
Expedition Report SWEDARCTIC Synoptic Arctic Survey 2021 with icebreaker Oden. Swedish Polar Research Secretariat. 300 pp.