Observations across the western Eurasian basin – establishing a long-term monitoring effort in the central Arctic Ocean to support management

The Arctic is undergoing rapid climate change. With sea ice retreat, previously inaccessible areas are opening up, and new economic prospects are being unveiled, paving the way for increased commercial activity. To support sustainable management of the central Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Polar Institute has established long-term observations in the western Eurasian Basin. Until now being largely perennially covered there are only sporadic observations in the region. Biennial expeditions to the western Nansen and Amundsen basin to map the physical, geochemical and ecosystem conditions, in addition to deep sea moorings and buoy deployments in either basin, provide new knowledge in support of management and conservation measures. Here we present initial findings from expeditions with RV Kronprins Haakon in 2022 and 2024 that reveal significant gradients in physical and chemical conditions across the basins, given that the region ranges from warm and salty inflowing Atlantic waters with intermittent ice cover, to perennially ice-covered fresh polar waters. This regionality affects ecosystem functioning, and human activity, and thus the requirements for management. This further highlights the large regionality within the Central Arctic Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) and provides the basis to further divide the LME into subregions of similar character.