Deliverable 3.8 First implementation and data: Fram Strait

This document presents the state-of-the-art in the implementation of new observing systems developed within the INTAROS project as well as the optimization of existing systems in Fram Strait. In addition, it reports on results from the observing systems and describes ways for the delivery of data retrieved by these systems.

AWI developed the experimental system arcFOCE (Arctic Free Ocean Carbon Enrichment) that enables scientists to study impacts of ocean acidification on small, sediment-inhabiting deep-sea organisms. arcFOCE was deployed for its first long-term experiment in September/October 2018in 1500 m water depth at the LTER observatory HAUSGARTEN. In August/September 2019,a ROV was used to take sediment samples to study anticipated changes in bacterial and meiofaunal numbers, biomass and community composition due to artificially reduced pH values in bottom waters.Because these analyses are extremely time-consuming, data from the experiment will be available not before mid 2020. All data from the arcFOCE experiment will finally be stored in the PANGAEA data repository.

CNRS-UIEM installed a passive acoustics system at Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, which is identical to another system already deployed and running in Greenland,to allow direct comparison of results from these monitoring systems in western and eastern part of the Fram Strait. Acoustic data from the two systems will finally be available via SEANOE (https://www.seanoe.org) or SEXTANT (https://sextant.ifremer.fr/).

CNRS-LOV continued and improved their measurements at the AWIPEV CO2 time-series monitoring site in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard.Time-series data generated by in-situ sensors in the fjord and in a Ferrybox flow-through system at AWIPEV is, to our knowledge, the first one at such high frequency. Raw data from the deployed sensors are available in near real-time: https://awipev-co2.obs-vlfr.fr. Data will be quality-controlled and uploaded to the World Data Center Pangaea in 2019-2020.