The Oceanography of Grønnfjorden and Billefjorden (GrønnBille)

During the project meeting hosted by UiT and Akvaplan-Niva in Tromsø 23.04.2014, relevant work from Isfjorden, Billefjorden and Grønnfjorden, with special focus on historical and existing data where presented. The Russian and Norwegian partners gave an overview of stations, campaigns and existing data for from the Russian (Grønnfjorden, Barentsburg and Pyramiden) and Norwegian (The Isfjorden proper and Billefjorden) interest areas. In 2014, a hydrographic (temperature-, salinity- and density profiles) database from the Isfjorden system has been developed by the Norwegian partners with all available data from both project partners and other national and international institutions that have collected hydrographic data in Isfjorden. In order to incorporate historic Russian data from Grønnfjorden into the Isfjorden hydrographic database, two Russian students from St. Petersburg University was invited to the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) to work together with the Norwegian partners in August 2014. The Russian students got the necessary training in database formats and structure and were able to add their data during their two weeks stay at UNIS. Moreover, they were quickly integrated into the international study- and research atmosphere at UNIS and were able to build on the network between Russia and Norway. An initial data analysis were performed on the combined Norwegian-Russian hydrographic dataset and a report on the preliminary results from the workshop at UNIS is expected in November. The report constitutes the background material for the two papers that we will aim at finishing during the spring of 2016. It is also the basis for a contribution submitted to the Arctic Frontiers conference in January 2016

The GrønnBille project fits perfectly into the call for proposals in the PolRes program, answering all five of the main priority areas: (I) By combining existing data and knowledge from both Grønfjorden (Russian data) and Billefjorden (Norwegian data) in to one comprehensive and comparative analyses, we will establish a new and important database that will significantly increase our understanding of the marine systems in the Arctic. (II) Building a close network between key research groups in Norway (UiT and UNIS) and Russia (AARI and Univ. St. Petersburg) through a joint initiative that rests equally on fully compatible national data sources as well as on our extensive history of bilateral cooperation. (III) Intercalibration of instruments and data serie s from both the Russian station in Barentsburg (Grønfjorden) and UNIS (Billefjorden). (IV) Active participation of both Russian and Norwegian scientists through joint workshops and close collaboration on data analyses and publication of results. (V) Build ing a new database that will be fully integrated into the SIOS initiative, and which will provide a foundation for an integrated monitoring and data providing service in the planned SIOS network on Svalbard. Also, all scientific partners have through thei r work on Svalbard over the last 20 years demonstrated their potential to conduct high-quality scientific work at the international level, thus securing a scientific and realistic framework for the outlined objectives. The GrønnBille project will combine data from several sources, first of all Russian data from Grønnfjorden and Norwegian data from Billefjorden. In addition, there will be several datasets from other parts of the Isfjorden system that will be utilised. All oceanographic data (temp, salinity , density) are fully compatible, and will together form a broad and solid basis for our planned work.