cnrs I international w 28 | In Images magazine Marine Biology Scientists are carrying out research in Norway to predict how climate change will impact the Arctic’s fragile marine ecosystem. Ny-Ålesund BY Grégory Fléchet Located at the head of a fjord in the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, Ny-Ålesund is the world’s northernmost functional public settlement. It is at these extreme latitudes, where polar night can last several weeks, that the scientists of the international ECOTAB1 project chose to undertake their research. It is estimated that the Arctic Ocean’s overall temperature will have increased by 4°C by 2050-2100. Over the same period, a sharp decrease in the Arctic Ocean’s sea-ice thickness, pH, and salinity is likely to occur. What impact will such changes have on the structure and functioning of Arctic coastal ecosystems? Launched in 2011, the ECOTAB project is set to answer some of these questions. “The large inlet of Kongsfjorden, where the NyÅlesund base is located, is an ideal place to study the impact of climate change on the Arctic,” explains project leader Nathalie Morata, a researcher at the LEMAR.2 “This is because the inlet is under the direct influence of the warm water transported by the North Atlantic Drift.” Her team’s research spe- cifically targets the benthos —the organisms that live on the sea floor—whose response to predicted climate change has hardly been studied at all. The first phase of the project began with the collection of samples of ice, seawater, and sediments. Between May 2012 and January 2013, the scientists carried out four campaigns in three different areas of Kongsfjorden. The objective of this sampling was to shed light on the seasonal relations between the organisms living in three interrelated environments: benthos. The community of aquatic organisms living on or near the sea floor. north atlantic. drift. A slow movement of North Atlantic water, warmed by the Gulf Stream, towards the north-east and the Arctic Ocean. Life under the Arctic Ice 01 02
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