Helmer Hanssen HH180423 (Arctic PRIZE, Arctic SIZE)
Cruise summary report
| Cruise Info. | |
| Ship name (ship code) | Helmer Hanssen (58HJ) |
| Cruise identifier | HH180423 (Arctic PRIZE, Arctic SIZE) |
| Cruise period | 2018-04-23 — 2018-05-05 |
| Status | Completed |
| Port of departure | Tromsø, Norway |
| Port of return | Longyearbyen, Svalbard and Jan Mayen |
| Purpose | Research |
| Objectives | Cruise HH180423 was joint effort by the UiT-based research programs "Arctic SIZE" and the NERC-funded "Arctic PRIZE (Productivity in the Seasonal Ice Zone) and CHASE (Chronobiology of changing Arctic Sea Ecosystems). Arctic SIZE is a new research initiative within UiT to investigate the ecology of the seasonal ice zone and HH180423 provided an opportunity for spring sampling. Arctic PRIZE is focused on the evolution of the Barents Sea shelf system from winter through spring to summer and this cruise was the second of three such cruises in 2018 (January, April and June). CHASE is a new NERC project focused on investigating the relationship between life history, physiology and biological rhythms in Arctic copepods and krill.
Both Arctic PRIZE and CHASE projects were focussed on occupying stations along the 30E line of longitude to complete a suite of sampling that spanned the oceanography, water column optics and chemistry, phytoplankton communities and their physiological state, zooplankton response to light cycles and benthic communities. These spring data, at a time of primary productivity, will complement the set a winter data collected in the same location in January 2018. The ultimate aim of Arctic PRIZE is to understand the balance between ice cover, nutrient concentration and phytoplankton dynamics to understand how the productivity of seasonally covered shelves will alter in a future arctic state. A key objective for PRIZE was the deployment and utilisation of robotic platforms (AUV and gliders) to extend spatial and temporal data collection. A total of 19 stations were occupied (excluding shakedown station), ranging from a single CTD profile to full station with all project parameters measured. In addition there was recovery of 1 glider and deployment of 2 gliders, AUV operations (not resulting in data collection) and additional Norwegian-led experiments for the Arctic SIZE project. In total there were 200 gear deployments. Most of the sampling was done in the Barents Sea with a single station in the fjord locations of Hornsund and Billefjorden. Stations visited included those occupied during the 2017 JCR Changing Arctic Ocean cruise JR16006 and HH180101. |
| Chief scientist | Finlo R Cottier (Scottish Association for Marine Science), Jorgen Berge (University of Tromsø, Department of Arctic and Marine Biology) |
| Ocean/sea areas | |
| General | Barents Sea Arctic Ocean |
| Specific | Svalbard |
| Track charts |  (0.14 MB) |
| Measurements | |
| Physical oceanography | |
| CTD stations | Quantity: number of profiles = 29 Description: Full depth CTD profiles for temp/salinity/DO/Chla/Turbidity |
| Transparency (eg transmissometer) | Quantity: number of profiles = 9 Description: Profiles to ~40m with Inherent Optical Properties rig |
| Optics (eg underwater light levels) | Quantity: number of profiles = 9 Description: Profiles to ~40m with Inherent Optical Properties rig |
| Other physical oceanographic measurements | Quantity: number of deployments = 2 Description: 2 Slocum Gliders (From NERC/MARS) rated to 200m deployed for 2 month mission. 1 glider recovered after 3 month mission. |
| Chemical oceanography | |
| Phosphate | Quantity: number of profiles = 16 Description: Vertical profile at ~10 discrete depths |
| Total - P | Quantity: number of profiles = 16 Description: Vertical profile at ~10 discrete depths |
| Nitrate | Quantity: number of profiles = 16 Description: Vertical profile at ~10 discrete depths |
| Nitrite | Quantity: number of profiles = 16 Description: Vertical profile at ~10 discrete depths |
| Total - N | Quantity: number of profiles = 16 Description: Vertical profile at ~10 discrete depths |
| Ammonia | Quantity: number of profiles = 16 Description: Vertical profile at ~10 discrete depths |
| Silicate | Quantity: number of profiles = 16 Description: Vertical profile at ~10 discrete depths |
| Isotopes | Quantity: number of profiles = 16 Description: Vertical profile at ~10 discrete depths for 18O and/or 15N |
| Contamination | |
| Suspended matter | Quantity: number of stations = 7 Description: SPM measured in surface only |
| Biology and fisheries | |
| Primary productivity | Quantity: number of stations = 5 Description: Water samples taken at surface for C14 uptake incubations |
| Phytoplankton pigs (eg chlorophyll, fluorescence) | Quantity: number of stations = 12 Description: Water samples taken from ~2-5 discrete depths |
| Particulate organic matter (inc POC, PON) | Quantity: number of stations = 9 Description: Water samples taken from ~2-5 discrete depths |
| Dissolved organic matter (inc DOC) | Quantity: number of stations = 16 Description: Water samples taken at surface an ~5 other depths |
| Phytoplankton | Quantity: number of stations = 12 Description: Water samples taken at the surface for flow-cytometry analysis |
| Zooplankton | Quantity: number of stations = 10 Description: Sampling for zooplankton using various WP2/WP3/MIK/MPS/Tucker |
| Zoobenthos | Quantity: number of cores = 18 Description: Van Veen at 5 discrete stations totalling 24 samples. |
| Meteorology | |
| Incident radiation | Quantity: activity duration in days = 5 Description: Continuous radiation measurements |
