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NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration Quick Look Report

Expedition Title: Hidden Ocean 2005

+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Results (please  | Details (please describe any novel discoveries in |
| check all        | the discipline, answers such as "possible,        |
| disciplines in   | awaiting data analysis" and "no apparent          |
| which this       | discoveries" are acceptable)                      |
| cruise collected |                                                   |
| data)            |                                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Bathymetric      |                                                   |
| Mapping          |                                                   |
|                  |                                                   |
| Yes x No        |                                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| New Species      | No new species discovered so far -- material      |
| Discovered       | needs to processed in home lab.                   |
|                  |                                                   |
|  Yes x No       |                                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Bio-prospecting  | (please note number, type, and potential use of   |
|                  | new compounds discovered)                         |
|  Yes x No       |                                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Habitat Range    | Range extensions were observed for two amphipod   |
| Extended         | species living associated with the underside of   |
|                  | sea ice. One species was previously known to be   |
| x Yes  No       | associated only in coastal waters and was now     |
|                  | found to be under offshore ice, and the second    |
|                  | species was previously known only as a pelagic    |
|                  | species. Other material needs to be processed in  |
|                  | home lab.                                         |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Chemical         | (please note new or unusual chemical properties   |
| Processes        | such as methane seeps, hypersaline pools, vents,  |
|                  | etc. observed)                                    |
|  Yes x No       |                                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Geologic         | (please note new or unusual geologic processes    |
| Processes        | that may impact scientific understanding of the   |
|                  | region)                                           |
|  Yes x No       |                                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Physical         | (please note new or unusual oceanographic         |
| Processes        | processes that may impact scientific              |
|                  | understanding of the region)                      |
|  Yes x No       |                                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Sub/ROV/AUV      | (please note name, type, and cumulative hours of  |
| Dives            | bottom time for each platform / if available      |
|                  | please provide average working time per dive for  |
|  Yes x No       | each platform / please note if new depth records  |
|                  | were set)                                         |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| New Technology   | Under-ice sediment traps were specifically        |
|                  | designed for 24 h deployments during this         |
| x Yes x No       | expedition.                                       |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Maritime         | (please note discoveries impacting knowledge of   |
| Cultural         | the past, i.e. number and type of shipwrecks)     |
| Heritage         |                                                   |
|                  |                                                   |
|  Yes x No       |                                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Outreach         | Outreach through Oceanexplorer web page, Teacher  |
|                  | at sea (Jack Adams), lesson plans with NOAA OE,   |
| x Yes  No       | and public presentations in Barrow, Alaska. Also  |
|                  | wide media coverage after the expedition.         |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Students         | 3 graduate level students                         |
| Involved         |                                                   |
|                  |                                                   |
| x Yes  No       |                                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| M                | Sea ice biology, Planktology, Benthology,         |
| ultidisciplinary | Physical and chemical oceanography, seafloor      |
|                  | mapping                                           |
| x Yes  No       |                                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Exploration of   | Significant increase in knowledge of sea ice      |
| New Regions      | fauna and flora over deep sea areas of the Canada |
|                  | Basin                                             |
| x Yes  No       |                                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+

Ocean Exploration Quick Look Report Required Elements

The Office of Ocean Exploration (OE) does not require a specific Quick
Look Report format. Reports submitted under other requirements (e.g.
Cruise Summary Report (CSR)) or Fisheries-Oceanography Coordinated
Investigations (FOCI)) are acceptable. In all cases Quick Look Reports
submitted to OE should contain the following elements:

**Project title:**

The Hidden Ocean: Explorations under the ice of the Western Arctic --
life in the crystal palace of sea ice communities, Phase 2

**Principal Investigator and institution:**

Rolf Gradinger, University of Alaska Fairbanks

**Expedition title:**

The Hidden Ocean 2005

# Expedition dates and itinerary: 

Expedition Barrow-Barrow: 27 June 2005 to 26 July 2005

# 26 June 2005 -- boarding USCGC Healy out of Barrow

28 June 2005 -- start sampling at Station #2

25 July 2005 -- conclude sampling at Station #15

26 July 2005 -- disembark USCGC Healy in Barrow

31 July 2005 -- offload in Dutch Harbor

# Chief Scientist and institution: 

Rolf Gradinger, University of Alaska Fairbanks

# Co-sponsors / partners / participating organizations: 

Arctic Ocean Diversity - part of the Census of Marine Life

Arctic Research Office, NOAA: travel funds for Chinese collaborator

**Vessel Identification:**

USCGC Healy

# Primary Equipment: 

Ice corer for ice sampling, SCUBA for under-ice sampling and
videography, water sampler for water samples, light sensor, T/S sensor,
sediment traps, amphipod traps.

**Geographic area of operations**:

Canada Basin, deep Arctic Ocean, including adjacent areas of Northwind
Ridge, Northwind Abyssal Plain and Chukchi Plateau

76º27.47 N - 71 º15.87 N

163 º30.13 W - 151 º35.19 W

(see Figure for location of the stations)

![](media/image2.wmf){width="2.0347222222222223in"
height="2.620833333333333in"}

# Summary of Expedition Objectives:

The expedition was a full success as a full suite of sampling gear could
be deployed on and below the sea ice at most of the 14 stations. We
could address the following objectives:

> 1\) Estimate diversity and abundance of sea ice flora and fauna in
> different sea ice habitats (through ice coring)
>
> 2\) Understand the ecological niches of the key species, under-ice
> amphipods and Arctic Cod (through under-ice diving)

3\) Search for rare and yet unidentified endemic ice meiofauna species
(through collection of multiple ice cores at each station)

> 4\) Characterize the sea ice realm by understanding the amount and
> fate of the sea ice-related primary production (through *in situ*
> incubations and sediment traps).

**Milestones Achieved:**

The project is precisely on its timeline. The following milestones were
achieved:

+----------+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| **Time   | **Milestones**                                            |
| period** |                                                           |
+----------+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| May 2005 | Anticipated start of project                              |
+----------+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| May-June | Cruise planning and preparation, contributions to         |
| 2005     | www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/                               |
+----------+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| Summer   | Canada Basin Cruise: 4 participants; contributions to OE  |
| 2005     | web page                                                  |
|          |                                                           |
|          | Ice sampling, diving, life microscopy and meiofauna       |
|          | sorting, filtrations                                      |
+----------+-----------------------------------------------------------+

# Sample log entries: 

The following provides examples of sample log entries for the various
objectives:

*Abundance and diversity of under-ice macrofauna per 0.25m^2^* area
(SCUBA):

  ------- ---------- ------------- ----------------- --------- --------- ------------ ------------ ----------- ----------- ------------- ------------- ----------
  **Stn   **Date**   **Habitat**   **Orientation**   **Repl.   **Depth   ***G.        ***G.        ***A.       ***A.       ***Onisimus   ***Onisimus   **Total
  \#**                                               \#**      (ft)**    wilkitzkii   wilkitzkii   glacialis   glacialis   spp (Ad)***   spp (Juv)***  abund.**
                                                                         (Ad)***      (Juv)***     (Ad)***     (Juv)***                                

  6       7/7/2005   old ridge     Top               1         9         0            0            5           3           0             0             8

  6       7/7/2005   old ridge     Ridge side        2         10        0            0            4           1           0             0             5

  6       7/7/2005   old ridge     Bottom            3         11        0            0            2           0           0             0             2

  6       7/7/2005   old ridge     Top               4         7         0            0            1           0           0             0             1

  6       7/7/2005   old ridge     Bottom            5         3         0            0            6           3           0             0             9

  6       7/7/2005   old ridge     Bottom            6         13        10           2            22          0           0             0             34

  6       7/7/2005   old ridge     Ridge side        7         17        7            0            28          4           0             0             39

  6       7/7/2005   old ridge     Ridge side        8         16        0            0            3           2           0             0             5
  ------- ---------- ------------- ----------------- --------- --------- ------------ ------------ ----------- ----------- ------------- ------------- ----------

Temperature, salinity and light measurements station 2:

  ------------------------- ------------------- --------- ---------------
  **Environmental                                         
  temperatures ( C):**                                    

  **air**                                       1.3       

  **snow surface**                              0.1       

  **snow/ice interface**                        0.3       

                                                          

  **Ice core temp profile**                               

                            depth(cm)           temp      

                            surface             0.3       

                            10                  0         

                            20                  0.1       

                            30                  -0.4      

                            40                  -0.5      

                            50                  -0.6      

                            60                  -0.1      

                            70                  -0.7      

                            80                  -0.6      

                            90                  -1        

                            100                 -0.6      

                            110                 -0.8      

                            120                 -0.8      

                            128                 -0.6      
  ------------------------- ------------------- --------- ---------------

  ----------------------- ---------------- ----------------- -------------
                                                             

  **T/S profile**         depth(m)         temp ( C)         salinity

                          1.25             -1.5              31.7

                          2                -1.5              31.8

                          3                -1.5              31.7

                          lead surf.       1.1               4.8

                                                             

  **Light profile**       depth(m)         2p                4p

  uE/m2/s                 0                907               942

                          1                922               490

                          2                890               255

                          3                917               236

                          4                941               221

                          5                924               189
  ----------------------- ---------------- ----------------- -------------

## *Example PAM measurements*

Station 9: F, Fm' = variable fluorescence. Yield = photosynthetic yield,
ETR=electron transport rate, PAR = photosynthetically active radition
(uEm^-2^s^-1^)

  ---------- ------------ ---------------- --------------- ---------------
  F          Fm\'         Yield            ETR             PAR

  93         155          0.4              0               0

  82         172          0.523            4.3             20

  175        186          0.059            0.6             29

  187        215          0.13             2.2             43

  119        159          0.251            6.4             62

  53         143          0.629            25              95

  72         158          0.544            32.1            141

  76         152          0.5              45.9            219

  82         164          0.5              68.6            327
  ---------- ------------ ---------------- --------------- ---------------

**Summary of Digital Data Collected:**

Under-ice video: Total of 1 hour of under-ice observation (Mini-DV)

Under-ice digital pictures: Total of 250 pictures, 700 KB each, 2288 x
1712 pixels

PAM measurements: Measurements with PAM fluorometer at station 9 to 15,
total of 95 KB

# Summary of outreach and educational activities: 

# Gradinger gave a public presentation (about 40 participants) on the cruise objectives and station plan in Barrow, Alaska on May 28, 2005. Gradinger also met with various interest groups in Barrow, Alaska on March 24^th^ to discuss cruise objectives (see separate Memo sent to Jeremy Potter in June 2005).

Gradinger, Bluhm and Iken contributed to the Oceanexplorer web pages,
web logs during the cruise and in the development of lesson plans. Bluhm
and Gradinger jointly co-operated with the Teacher-at-sea, Jack Adams.

Gradinger, Iken and Bluhm gave numerous (\>10) interviews with media
representatives onboard Healy and after the cruise (including Voice of
America, CBC Toronto, CBC North, Fairbanks News-Miner, Anchorage Daily
News), contributed to news releases through AP and Reuters, which lead
to world-wide media coverage of this expedition (e.g. Brazil, Japan,
Belgium, Russia, Germany etc.).

**Thoughts for the Future:**

This very successful expedition will allow the first detailed
description of the Canada Basin sea ice meiofauna. It will form the
backbone for any future discussion of impacts of Global warming on
Arctic sea ice biota for this study region. Similar investigations
should be extended in terms of season (over one entire seasonal cycle)
and region (extent into the Transpolar Drift system). The importance of
pressure ridges for ice meiofauna and macrofauna was recognized and will
need to be addressed in more detail in future work.

**Summary of Expedition Operations:**

A complete summary of the expedition events was compiled by Steven Rutz
(NOAA OE participant in expedition) and is available at the NOAA OE
office.