Kongsfjorden System Flagship: Working together to understand an Arctic sentinel fjord

Kongsfjorden, on the western coast of Svalbard, is a sentinel of climate change in the Arctic, with warming occurring faster than most places on the globe. Researchers have studied parts of the ecosystem for decades, including sea temperature, water chemistry, sea ice, plant and animal plankton, seals, and seabirds. Bringing together researchers to integrate this knowledge provides unique insights into how an entire marine ecosystem is changing with climate change. This project will support the research network "Kongsfjorden System Flagship," which gathers international experts on Kongsfjorden to optimize climate-relevant research.

Kongsfjorden, on the west coast of Svalbard, integrates oceanographic inputs from Atlantic water inflow, local Arctic waters, and meltwater from tidewater glaciers, rivers and permafrost. As such, it is a prime location to study many of the key drivers of coastal and oceanic environments that are relevant across the Arctic. It has also been described as a sentinel of Arctic climate change effects on marine ecosystems (Bischof et al. 2019), with changes in the fjord including Atlantification and altered food web dynamics, sea ice loss, tidewater glacier retreat, ocean acidification, warming, increased runoff, and changes in the underwater light climate. The fjord is a hotspot for Arctic research, due to its vicinity to the permanent Ny-Ålesund research station, with its year-round accessibility and excellent infrastructure, including a marine Laboratory that allows working with living Arctic organisms. With some of the longest time-series on marine ecosystems in the Arctic, and the ability to link to concurrent time-series of atmospheric, glaciological and terrestrial processes, the opportunity for an integrated understanding of an Arctic system is nearly unrivalled in Kongsfjorden. However, coordination is a key for the full optimization and integration of these many efforts into useful and high-quality knowledge. The Kongsfjorden System Flagship, established in 2016 by the Ny-Ålesund Science Managers Committee (NySMAC) brings together marine researchers working on the Kongsfjorden ecosystem, with the goal of increasing cooperation and thus the quality of knowledge on this key sentinel system. Participation in the Flagship has increased significantly the last years, and continues to rise as more groups working in Kongsfjorden join. However, we aim to include even more of the research community in Kongsfjorden.