Understanding who eats who is important to describe how nutrition and energy move between species in marine ecosystems. The field of research is flourishing like never before thanks to new technology and more advanced methods. These allow us to uncover hitherto unknown connections that occasionally shake up known paradigms in ecology.

Recent “Atlantification” of the Arctic is characterized by warmer ocean temperatures and a reduced sea ice cover. The Barents Sea is a “hot spot” for these changes, something which has broad socioeconomic and environmental impacts in the region. However, there is, at present, no complete understanding of what is causing the ocean warming.

Warm Atlantic water (AW) that flows northward along the Svalbard west coast is thought to
transport enough heat to melt regional Arctic sea ice effectively. Despite this common assumption, quantitative requirements necessary for AW to directly melt sea ice fast enough under realistic winter conditions are still poorly constrained.

Last winter an almost forgotten sight presented itself to all those venturing the Barents Sea: sea ice as far south as Bjørnøya, equaling a sea-ice extent not seen since the eighties and nineties. Are you wondering how this is possible in times of global warming and a diminishing Arctic ice cap?

Polar cod is a key fish species, transferring energy from zooplankton to larger animals. Polar cod depend on sea ice for spawning and during the early parts of its life. Reduced ice cover may therefore influence the survival and growth of young polar cod directly through e.g. loss of predation refuge, and indirectly by e.g. affecting the abundance and availability of prey.

We are proud to share a glimpse of our many project activities from 2019. The report highlights of the new scientific knowledge that has started to emerge. It presents some of our research activities, our scientists and recruits.