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With their global capability and diverse array of sensors, research vessels are essential mobile observing platforms for ocean science. Data collected on every expedition are of high value, given the high cost and increasingly limited resources for ocean exploration. Virtual access is the free of charge provision of access to widely used resources needed for research that are openly and freely available through communication networks. For non-commercial use, interested parties can have access to datasets and metadata collected by the ARICE icebreakers, when available, without visiting the research infrastructures. In this virtual data access, there is no need for a comparative selection of users and there is thus no selection procedure. This deliverable provides detailed information on where cruise information and cruise data can be accessed publicly; and if this data is not publicly available, whether there is an agreement to access this data.

The ARICE Evaluation System is based on the EUROFLEETS Evaluation System, which followed the best experiences and practices from different European ship-time application and evaluation procedures. The EUROFLEETS Evaluation System was accepted by the RV operators of 22 European RVs, as members of the EUROFLEETS (1&2) projects, and tested in 8 calls for proposals (over 100 proposals evaluated) with 41 cruises successfully scheduled on board European RVs. This evaluation system has been accepted by the ARICE RV operators to grant ship time on board the offered research icebreakers.

We present continuous bi-weekly to bi-monthly dinoflagellate cyst, tintinnid loricae and tintinnid cyst fluxes at two mooring sites in Hudson Bay (subarctic Canada) from October 2005 to September 2006. The total dinoflagellate cyst fluxes at the site on the western side of the bay ranged from 4600 to 53,600 cysts m−2 day−1 (average 20,000 cysts m−2 day−1 ), while on average three times higher fluxes (average 62,300 cysts m−2 day−1 ) were recorded at the site on the eastern side of the bay with a range from 2700 to 394,800 cysts m−2 day−1 . These values are equivalent to the average fluxes calculated from the top 1-cm sediment layer of 210Pb-dated box cores at corresponding locations, and hence lend support to the use of sediment dinoflagellate cysts in palaeoceanography. Tintinnid fluxes ranged from 1200 to 80,000 specimens m−2 day−1 (average 32,100 tintinnids m−2 day−1 ) in the west, and 1600 to 1,240,800 specimens m−2 day−1 (average 106,800 tintinnids m−2 day−1 ) in the east, with the highest Salpingella sp. fluxes recorded during the sea-ice cover season. The dinoflagellate cyst species diversity recorded in the traps was similar at the two environmentally differing locations, with cold-water (e.g., Echinidinium karaense, Islandinium minutum, Islandinium? cezare, Polykrikos sp. var. arctica, Spiniferites elongatus), cosmopolitan (e.g., Operculodinium centrocarpum, Spiniferites ramosus, Brigantedinium) and typical warmer-water (e.g., Echinidinium aculeatum, Islanidium brevispinosum) species present. Furthermore, the species-specific timing of cyst production behaved similarly relative to the seasonal sea-ice cycle at both locations. Cyst species proportions and species-specific flux quantities, however, differed between the two sites and corresponded to the quantities and species assemblages recorded in the surface sediment, with the exception of cysts of Polarella glacialis and cf. Biecheleria sp. that seem not to preserve well in sediment but were abundant in both traps. Otherwise, cyst assemblage at the western trap site was dominated by O. centrocarpum and S. elongatus while at the eastern site very high quantities of cysts of Pentapharsodinium dalei were recorded. Our data do not lend support to the hypothesis that trophic status solely determines whether cyst production takes place under-ice or in the open water, since cysts of light-dependent (phototrophic) and light-independent (heterotrophic) dinoflagellates are recorded during both conditions. Most importantly, negligible under-ice cyst production is recorded during the deep arctic winter.

EGU2011-4235 The Arctic is undergoing rapid environmental and economic transformations. Recent climate warming, which is simplifying access to oil and gas resources, enabling trans Arctic shipping, and shifting the distribution of harvestable resources, has brought the Arctic Ocean to the top of national and international political agendas. Scientific knowledge of the present status of the Arctic Ocean and the process-based understanding of the mechanics of change are urgently needed to make useful predictions of future conditions throughout the Arctic region. These are required to plan for the consequences of climate change. A step towards improving our capacity to predict future Arctic change was undertaken with the Second International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP II) meetings in 2005 and 2006, which brought together scientists, policymakers, research managers, Arctic residents, and other stakeholders interested in the future of the Arctic region. The Arctic in Rapid Transition (ART) Initiative developed out of the synthesis of the several resulting ICARP II science plans specific to the marine environment. This process started in October 2008 and has been driven by early career scientists. The ART Initiative is an integrative, international, multi-disciplinary, long-term pan-Arctic network to study changes and feedbacks with respect to physical characteristics and biogeochemical cycles in the Arctic Ocean in a state of rapid transition and its impact on the biological production. The first ART workshop was held in Fairbanks, Alaska, in November 2009 with 58 participants from 9 countries. Workshop discussions and reports were used to develop a science plan that integrates, updates, and develops priorities for Arctic Marine Science over the next decade. The science plan was accepted and approved by the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) Marine Group, the former Arctic Ocean Science Board. The second ART workshop was held in Winnipeg, Canada, in October 2010 with 20 participants from 7 countries to develop the implementation plan. Our focus within the ART Initiative will be to bridge gaps in knowledge not only across disciplinary boundaries (e.g., biology, geochemistry, geology, meteorology, physical oceanography), but also across geographic (e.g., international boundaries, shelves, margins, and the central Arctic Ocean) and temporal boundaries (e.g., alaeo/geologic records, current process observations, and future modeling studies). This approach of the ART Initiative will provide a means to better understand and predict change, particularly the consequences for biological productivity, and ultimate responses in the Arctic Ocean system. More information about the ART Initiative can be found at http://aosb.arcticportal.org/art.html.

The Arctic is undergoing rapid transformations that have brought the Arctic Ocean to the top of international political agendas. Predicting future conditions of the Arctic Ocean system requires scientific knowledge of its present status as well as a process-based understanding of the mechanisms of change. The Arctic in Rapid Transition (ART) initiative is an integrative, international, interdisciplinary pan-Arctic program to study changes and feedbacks among the physical and biogeochemical components of the Arctic Ocean and their ultimate impacts on biological productivity. The goal of ART is to develop priorities for Arctic marine science over the next decade. Three overarching questions form the basis of the ART science plan: (1) How were past transitions in sea ice connected to energy flows, elemental cycling, biological diversity and productivity, and how do these compare to present and projected shifts? (2) How will biogeochemical cycling respond to transitions in terrestrial, gateway and shelf-to-basin fluxes? (3) How do Arctic Ocean organisms and ecosystems respond to environmental transitions including temperature, stratification, ice conditions, and pH? The integrated approach developed to answer the ART key scientific questions comprises: (a) process studies and observations to reveal mechanisms, (b) the establishment of links to existing monitoring programs, (c) the evaluation of geological records to extend time-series, and (d) the improvement of our modeling capabilities of climate-induced transitions. In order to develop an implementation plan for the ART initiative, an international and interdisciplinary workshop is currently planned to take place in Winnipeg, Canada in October 2010.