| Summary: | Background: Long time series of marine fauna and flora in the Arctic are rare. However, since the 1970’s, Norwegian scientists have both jointly with other international partners and independently been investigating the fjords and coastal areas of the arctic archipelago of Svalbard and surrounding seas. More recently, these research co-operation activities have been formalised through participation in the ARCTOS network. These research groups have access to the best available data to assess past changes in shallow Arctic pelagic and benthic ecosystems. In particular good baseline data from Kongsfjorden. In 1996, a transect of ten stations (NPI) was established from the inner part of the Kongsfjord to outside the shelf break at five discrete depth strata, and has been sampled several times a year. The data have been continuously processed until summer 2006. Additionally, a large data set has been gathered on fatty acid trophic markers and stable isotopes of zooplankton, fish and marine birds. Data on the taxonomic composition and structure of soft sediment environments have been gathered approximately every fifth year since 1997 by Akvaplan-niva and the Institute of Oceanology, PAS. The state of the Kongsfjorden ecosystem has been reviewed by several authors and the potential effect of climate swings by Falk-Petersen et al. (2007).Concurrent with the efforts made by ARCTOS, the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) established the 'HAUSGARTEN' in 1999 as the first and only long-term deep-sea observatory at high latitude (Soltwedel et al., 2005). It comprises 15 permanent sampling stations along a bathymetric transect from the Vestnesa Ridge to the Molloy Hole (1200-5500 m) and a latitudinal transect along the 2500 m isobath. These transects cross at the central HAUSGARTEN station, which serves as an experimental area for long-term experiments. Long-term investigations at HAUSGARTEN comprise various compartments of the ecosystem, including the water column and the deep seafloor. Repeated sampling and the deployment of moorings and long-term free-falling systems (bottom landers) has been conducted on an annual basis since 1999 and yielded an unrivalled time-series data set.Aim:•Connect the “Kongsfjord” and “HAUSGARTEN” bathymetric transects •Standardise the sampling strategy and protocol of both transects •Investigate the spatial distribution of zooplankton and benthos by use of existing data and new data collected by remote sensing techniques •Investigate seasonal and diel vertical migration by use of sediment traps and acoustic methods•Assess Arctic pelagic and benthic ecosystem changes in relation to climate factors such as sea ice, hydrography, NAO and AO indices•Adapt and apply existing models on marginal ice zone (MIZ) pelagic-benthic interactions in shallow waters to the HAUSGARTEN bathymetric transect data set•Set a baseline for future monitoring programmes with respect to megafaunal communities and food web structure at selected stations
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