SI_ARCTIC | Institute of Marine Research

Cruise diary: On 16 September we set foot on land for the first time in two weeks. This marked the end of this year’s SI_ARCTIC survey. Nineteen scientists had surveyed the ecosystem “from physics to whale” in the area west and north of Svalbard. This cruise was the third in as many years, and the data will be used to analyse relationships in the ecosystem.

In recent weeks, the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) has put considerable effort into the annual Arctic Ocean survey in the area north of Svalbard. With RV “Helmer Hanssen” as the platform, the marine ecosystem was upended and samples and measurements were taken of everything from the chemical composition of microscopic amphipods to jellyfish, fish fry and larger fish such as cod and redfish.

Cruise diary: The oceans are full of fish. With nearly 35.000 species described all over the world, fish are the most diversified group of vertebrates. The finding of a new undescribed species is still not a past activity for researchers working in fish systematics; about 200–300 new species are described yearly in the world.

Danish and Swiss climatologists didn't check capture data and predicted that the cod would find good living conditions in the Barents Sea close to the turn of the century. Norwegian and Russian marine scientists answered that the cod is already there.