General metadata from expedition SAS, Arctic Ocean, 2021

Pauline Snoeijs-Leijonmalm, SAS-Oden 2021 Scientific Party

The Synoptic Arctic Survey (SAS) 2021 expedition was carried out during summer 2021 in the Arctic Ocean, covering a large area including parts of the Amundsen Basin, Nansen Basin, North Pole area, Lomonosov Ridge, Morris Jesup Rise and Yermak Plateau.

With the Swedish icebreaker Oden serving as the research platform, a range of scientific investigations were made. The main scientific goal was to investigate the present state and ongoing transformations of the marine ecosystem.

This dataset contains all basic metadata (date, time, geographic position, water depth, etc.) for the 60 sampling stations visited and the 271 device operations (sampling procedures) performed during the expedition. All samples taken within the related OMICS programme on biodiversity and gene expression are listed as well.

Citation

Pauline Snoeijs-Leijonmalm, SAS-Oden 2021 Scientific Party (2023) General metadata from expedition SAS, Arctic Ocean, 2021. Dataset version 1. Bolin Centre Database. https://doi.org/10.17043/oden-sas-2021-expedition-metadata-1

References

Snoeijs-Leijonmalm Pauline, the SAS-Oden Scientific Party (2022) Expedition Report SWEDARCTIC: Synoptic Arctic Survey 2021 with icebreaker Oden. Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, 300 pp, ISBN 978-91-519-3672-7

Data description

The dataset comprises four xlsx spreadsheet files accompanied by a pdf document containing the SAS science and implementation plan.

Expedition logbook

The file SO21-expedition-logbook-221106.xlsx contains the following data sheets:

1. Detailed explanations of all variables in the other sheets
2. Overview of the 60 sampling stations with geographic map
3. All 271 device operations (sampling procedures) performed with date, time, geographic position, depth, etc.
4. Duration ship stations
5. Duration and geographic positions helicopter stations
6. Times when multibeam, sub-bottom profiler and EK80 hydroacoustics were turned on and off

The device operations are described in detail in the Expedition Report.

Ice station logbook

The file SO21-icestation-logbook-221106.xlsx contains the following data sheets:

1. Detailed explanations of all variables in the other sheets
2. Overview of all ice stations with geographic map
3. The all 16 SAS ice stations with date, time, geographic position, depth, etc.
4. Details of the 4 SAS ice stations visited by helicopter
5. Field measurements of ice cover and air, ice, and water temperatures measured in the field
6. Metadata for the 316 ice cores taken during the expedition, including date, time, geographical position, ice thickness, freeboard, core length, snow depth, sampling device, etc.
7. Minimum, maximum, and average ice thickness, freeboard, core length, snow depth for each SAS ice station
8. Ice core temperature and salinity profiles for each SAS ice station (with graphs)
9. Temperature and salinity measured in the field of ice-habitat water (brackish brine, ice-seawater interface, melt pond), sampling device, etc.
10. Details of sampling and melting snow samples
11. Details of sampling and melting ice samples

The sampling procedures are described in detail in the Expedition Report

OMICS metadata

The file SO21-omics-metadata-220118 contains the following data sheets:

1. Detailed explanations of all variables in the other sheets
2. Filtration data for the 900 SAS OMICS DNA samples for 16S, 18S, and metagenome analyses
3. Filtration data for the 600 SAS OMICS RNA samples for metatranscriptome analyses
4. Filtration data for the 126 SAS OMICS "MIME" DNA and RNA samples ("MIME" project on the expedition)
5. Filtration data for the 49 SAS OMICS "VIRUS" DNA and RNA samples ("VIRUS" project on the expedition)
6. Filtration data for the 60 SAS OMICS sediment cores for 16S, 18S, and metagenome analyses
7. Filtration data for the 9 SAS OMICS air samples for 16S, 18S, and metagenome analyses

The OMICS collaboration, sampling and filtration procedures are described in detail in the Expedition Report.

Ship data

The file SO21-shipdata-30min-220118.xlsx contains the following data sheets:

1. Detailed explanations of all variables in the other sheets with geographic map of sampling stations
2. Average ship positions calculated for 30 min. intervals along the expedition route 210725 – ⁠210918
3. Graph average latitude along the expedition route 210725 – ⁠210918
4. Graph average longitude along the expedition route 210725 – ⁠210918
5. Graph average ship speed along the expedition route 210725 – ⁠210918
6. Graph average wind speed along the expedition route 210725 – ⁠210918

SAS science and implementation plan

The file SAS-science-plan.pdf contains a 36-page document that explains the Synoptic Arctic Survey pan-Arctic research program.

Comments

The Synoptic Arctic Survey (SAS) is a bottom‐up, researcher driven initiative that seeks to define the present state of the Arctic Ocean and understand the major ongoing transformations, with an emphasis on water masses, the marine ecosystems and the carbon cycle. The SAS field work consisted of a multinational coordinated engagement of research vessels in the summers of 2020-2022 to jointly address the Arctic Ocean. The goal of SAS is to generate an unmatched dataset that allows for a complete characterization of Arctic Ocean hydrography and circulation, organismal and ecosystem functioning and productivity, and carbon uptake and ocean acidification. The Swedish SAS-Oden 2021 expedition was organised by the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat (SPRS) in collaboration with the participating scientists. The infrastructure (ship time) was financially supported by the SPRS, the EFICA Consortium (EU) and the ARICE Consortium (EU). Within SAS, icebreaker Oden covered an area with challenging ice conditions.

The OMICS collaboration is a joint effort carried out jointly by all biological projects on-board the expedition, including sampling, deep sequencing of the samples at the National Genomics Infrastructure (NGI), SciLifeLab, Sweden, and publication of the results. The goal of this collaboration is to achieve a full metagenomic (taxonomic) and metatranscriptomic (gene expression) biodiversity record of water-column, sea ice, and sediment habitats along the expedition route. The metagenomic and metatranscriptomic datasets can later be used for exploring e.g., specific taxonomical groups, specific metabolic pathways and environmental DNA (eDNA) of invertebrates, fish, mammals and birds.

See more information about the expedition at the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat.