Understanding how ongoing rapid changes affect Arctic marine ecosystems requires harmonised sampling and integrated analyses across disciplines. This international science-driven network aims to enhance observational capacity by increasing collaboration in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean.
By: Anna Nikolopoulos and Arild Sundfjord // Norwegian Polar Institute,
Marit Reigstad // UiT – The Arctic University of Norway
Angelika Renner // Institute of Marine Research
Hosting several of the main features characterising—and changing—the Arctic Ocean, the Atlantic–Arctic region has long been the focus of observation and exploration. On one side, we have the warm Atlantic inflow, an important driver of changes observed during the past decades such as decreasing sea ice extent, longer open water periods and northward spread of boreal species. On the other side is the fresh Polar outflow, which carries the increased sea ice melt and river runoff and brings the influence of a changing Arctic to the World Ocean.
Several countries run long-term monitoring programmes that have provided invaluable time series through more than three decades, typically of prevailing ocean and sea-ice conditions. It is, however, still a challenge to retrieve good biological time series for all the key locations where rapid changes are taking place. We therefore often lack a full ecosystem picture. Although moored observing infrastructure is in place year-round at a few locations, most sites are, at best, sampled by ship once a year, making it particularly difficult to resolve seasonal signals. Independent of discipline, data coverage is still generally poor in the biologically active near-surface waters, which are not easily observed due to sea ice. Better coordination of sampling in key locations would improve data coverage through the seasons and give a more holistic view.
The Atlantic–Arctic Distributed Biological Observatory (A-DBO) network aims to improve the interaction between scientists and institutes across nations to optimise data collection and use of resources. The concept is inspired by the pioneering DBO programme in the Pacific Arctic, which for over a decade has improved the observational capacity by enhancing the resolution in time series, provided an overarching long-term context, and strengthened cooperation.
During the initiating phase of the A-DBO, we have anchored the concept more broadly in the science community. Through early sharing of our findings, we quickly obtained a comprehensive picture of the currently warmer and fresher Atlantic inflow west of Svalbard. By merging individual data sets we tracked the chlorophyll bloom status over a longer time period and with expanded regional coverage compared to each solitary survey. Not least, this work underscored the value of further aligning our sampling and logging routines.
Further reading
Grebmeier JM, Moore SE, Cooper LW, Frey KE (2019) The Distributed Biological Observatory: A change detection array in the Pacific Arctic—An introduction. Deep Sea Research Part II: 162. 1–7.
The A-DBO evolution
The A-DBO idea was launched in 2016, when initiating discussions were supported by the Norwegian Research Council and the IASC Marine working group.
In 2022–2025, the EU Horizon project Arctic PASSION provided capacity to establish the A-DBO and common practices for sampling, analysis and data sharing. The framework is built on international long-term monitoring programmes and coordinating practices from large Arctic Ocean projects such as the Nansen Legacy, MOSAiC, and SUDARCO, efforts with strong links to Fram Centre institutions.
The steering committee currently includes members from Alfred Wegener Institute (Germany), Aarhus University (Denmark), Institute of Marine Research (Norway), Institute of Oceanology PAS (Poland), Norwegian Polar Institute (Norway), and UiT – The Arctic University of Norway.