Marine ecological research in the high Arctic has until present nearly exclusively been conducted during the short summer period, and therefore very little knowledge exists about ecosystem dynamics during the winter. Here we study how marine ecosystems in the high Arctic are structured during the long, dark and cold Polar night, a project benefitting greatly from UNIS’ unique location in the high Arctic (78° N) and our capability of year- round field operations and ecosystem monitoring. The projects main aim is to provide new and unprecedented knowledge about how the winter season affects ecology of high Arctic marine ecosystem.

The following overall research questions are addressed:

1) How is food availability in winter related to hydrographical variability in Arctic shelf seas?

2) How important is the winter period for structuring marine ecosystems in the high Arctic?

3) Are ecological effects of wintertime conditions similar throughout the high Arctic marine ecosystem?

4) Do ecological response times differ between benthic and pelagic ecosystems?

In the ArcWin project we study the energy storage strategies of copepods, such as this Calanus finmarchicus. Note the large oil sac. Photo Malin Daase

Photos taken at stations along the west coast of Svalbard form the basis for analyses of long term changes in the benthos community, work conducted as part of ArcWin. Photo Bjørn Gulliksen.

Contact persons: 

Ketil Eiane (Project leader, Professor, Høgskolen i Bodø)  

Jørgen Berge (Co-leader, Professor in Marine Biology, UNIS)

Øystein Varpe (Post Doc, UNIS)