CAGE16-7 Cruise Report: Deployment of observatories and water column survey in the Barents Sea and offshore Svalbard

Abstract

The cruise was conducted from October 16th to 25th 2016 as part of the Centre of Excellence for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate (CAGE) at UiT – The Arctic University of Norway. The main goal of the cruise was to deploy two observatories in the pingo-crater area (“Yin Yang”) in the Barents Sea, and offshore Svalbard at the same location where OS2 was deployed in June 2015 and recovered in May 2016. The exact targeted location was determined according to multibeam analysis in order to deploy in the vicinity of bubble streams. The previously K-Landers called OS1 (black) and OS2 (grey) are now called K-Lander 1 and K-Lander 2. They contain a CH4 sensor, a CO2 sensor, a CTD, a pH meter, and a hydrophone. K-Lander 1 contains in addition a DVS (Doppler volume sampler) as the broken ADCP did not arrive on time for the deployment. K-Lander 2 contains in addition an ADCP, a transmissometer (for turbidity measurement) and an M3 (Multibeam echosounder). The present cruise also aimed at investigating an area of extensive flares western Svalbard, particularly the shallow shelf and shelf edge. The addressed scientific topics include quantification of methane concentration in the water column, temperature and salinity (via CTD casts), echosounder and multibeam signals and current (amplitude and direction) The cruise may be known as: CAGE16_7