The cruise addressed objectives of the work packages ‘Physical drivers’ (Research Foci 1), ‘Human impact’ (Research Foci 2) and ‘The living Barents Sea’ (Research Foci 3) along the Nansen Legacy transect in open water and within the sea ice. The cruise focused on comparing the state of the physical, chemical and biological conditions in the southern and northern parts of the study area.

In total, four process stations (P1, P2, P4, PICE1) were conducted, of which three were on the shelf, while the fourth was a sea ice station in the Nansen Basin (PICE1). Each process station was occupied over a 24-hour period to allow full daily cycle process measurements (i.e. rates), in addition to extensive biodiversity and abundance sampling. Additionally, two process stations in open water on the shelf were conducted with reduced sampling (P3/NLEG07 and P5/NLEG13), as well as three shorter sea ice stations over deep water (SICE1, SICE2 and SICE3), and bathymetric mapping at three mooring locations on the shelf (M1, M2 and M3). Given that this was the first research cruise on the new Norwegian research icebreaker R/V Kronprins Haakon, the cruise also focused on testing gear, establishing routines for gear deployments, collaboration, data management and data storage.