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Arctic Century 2021 – an interdisciplinary expedition to the Kara and Laptev Seas to study ocean, atmosphere and land processes in the changing Arctic
Summary
This paper describes the Arctic Century 2021 expedition to the Kara and Laptev Seas, one of the fastest-warming regions on Earth, where scientists collected unique data across oceanography, glaciology, ecology, and atmospheric science. The expedition visited seven rarely accessible Arctic islands and surveyed multiple marine transects. Microplastic sampling was among the environmental topics investigated.
The region of the Kara and Laptev Seas in the Russian Arctic has been experiencing one of the highest warming rates globally during past decades. From 5 August – 6 September 2021, the Arctic Century science team gathered unique data during a research expedition, along marine transects and on seven high Arctic islands that are very rarely accessible. The aim of the expedition is to contribute to the understanding of the dynamics and interactions between the ocean, cryosphere, land and atmosphere in the face of global change. Here we provide an overview of the main research topics and investigations performed, including: dynamics of Atlantic water masses; biodiversity and ecosystem productivity in the ocean and on high Arctic islands, at the margin of life; dynamics of the atmosphere and interactions with the ocean and land; past climate change and sea level history reconstruction based on sediment and ice cores; and amount and flow of macro- and microplastic in the ocean and along the shoreline. First analyses of samples and data are currently being performed by the expedition consortium. After an initial moratorium, the data will be made openly accessible to the wider science community.