Active acoustic data from Kongsfjorden, Svalbard

• Main Authors: Berge, Jorgen, Geoffroy, Maxime, Johnsen, Geir
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Cryospheric Information Network 2017
• Subjects: Acoustic; Barents Sea; Fishes; Svalbard; Zooplankton; Other programs and funding agencies; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Climate change; Kongsfjord*; Kongsfjorden; polar night
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.21963/12826; https://www.polardata.ca/pdcsearch/?doi_id=12826

The presence of Arctic pelagic organisms during the polar night is poorly documented, especially as boreal Atlantic species are expanding their range northward. Patterns of diel vertical migration (DVM) of crustaceans enhancing the biological pump are characteristic, yet poorly known processes of high latitude fjords of Svalbard. This dataset was collected in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, during January 2017 to document the distribution of pelagic organisms using acoustic instruments. An automated surface vehicle was equipped with an Acoustic Zooplankton and Fish Profiler (AZFP; 125, 200, 450, and 769 kHz) on January 14-21 and with a Wideband Autonomous Transceiver (WBAT; 70 kHz) on January 19 to document the backscatter signals from fish and zooplankton. : Purpose: Acoustic instruments mounted on automated surface vehicles provide high spatial and temporal resolution sampling of the pelagic realm. This dataset was collected to document the spatial and vertical distributions and migrations of zooplankton and fish in a period poorly document in high-Arctic fjords, the polar night. Data are provided in raw format from the instrument and can be read using acoustic processing softwares and/or routines (http://www.aslenv.com/AZFP-data.html) or programming softwares (e.g. Matlab, R). This project is associated with the "Arctic Ocean ecosystems - Applied technology, Biological interactions and Consequences in an era of abrupt climate change (Arctic ABC)” program that is funded by the Norwegian Research Council (project # 244319). : Summary: Not Applicable