ARCTOS/Nansen Legacy Polar Front expedition

Today, 22 researchers, students and technicians have boarded R/V Helmer Hanssen to go on a research and teaching cruise to investigate the Polar Front in the Barents Sea.

The key idea behind this joint research and teaching cruise is to carry out a detailed characterization of the Barents Sea Polar Front using a combination of remote sensing and traditional and autonomous sampling platforms/techniques.

This study will show how physical processes, at different scales, influence ecosystem traits across the Polar Front. This includes the characterization of the spring bloom at both sides of the front anticipated to occur in the region during the cruise, in addition to assessing standing stocks of phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish and benthos. The master students, PhD candidates and Post-docs joining this cruise will be actively involved in all sampling procedures, sample processing and data analysis.

The cruise leader Rolf Gradinger has already written the first blog post of a number to come from this cruise and you can read more about this exciting expedition on ScienceNorway.no in English or on blogg.forskning.no in Norwegian. More blog entries will come!