DOI: 10.5879/4kg2-tx65
title: SWERUS-C3 - Meteorological, Oceanographic and Ship Data Collected on board the Icebreaker Oden, July through October 2014
title: SWERUS-C3 - Meteorologiska och oceanografiska data, samt skeppsdata, insamlade ombord på isbrytaren Oden under juli till oktober 2014

description: SWERUS-C3 was an international research expedition using the icebreaker Oden in the Arctic Ocean. The expedition was a Swedish/Russian/American collaboration, and some 80 researchers will operated in the northern stretches of the Laptev Sea, the East Siberian Sea and the Chukchi Sea. The researchers studied the interactions between the thawing cryosphere, the carbon system and the climate system.

The expedition embarked from Tromsø, Norway on 6 July and proceeded along the Russian polar sea to Barrow, Alaska. Researchers and crew were changed on 20 August in Barrow, when the second leg of the expedition began. The route back to Scandinavia crossed the Lomonosov Ridge, an underwater mountain chain near the North Pole, and the expedition returned to Tromsø on 4 October.

The main scientific questions concerned the linkages between climate, cryosphere, and carbon - hence the name “C3”. The researchers studied emissions of methane stored in the permafrost on the seabed as well as carbon transport routes in the sea and ice.

The main issues researchers were seeking to address during the first leg are concerned with the processes, sources and fluxes of methane in the East Siberian shelf seas, how they function today, and how it may evolve in the future. They analysed air and ocean water, measured the composition of ocean sediment and studied carbon and methane transport routes in sea and ice.

During the second leg, the researchers studied the history of the Arctic sea ice, the inflow of relatively warm Atlantic water and the conversion and transport of carbon from the East Siberian shelf seas to the deep seas of the Arctic Ocean. During both legs, researchers studied the role of the Arctic clouds in the climate system.

Purpose:

The purpose of the expedition was to study the processes, sources and fluxes of methane in the East Siberian shelf seas, how they function today, and how it may evolve in the future. In recent years, researchers have discovered that large amounts of carbon, including as methane, are being released from the thawing permafrost. This could represent a carbon-climate feedback, enhancing the ongoing global warming process. There are also traces of the evolution of the region in the sediment at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean. By studying this sediment, SWERUS-C3 researchers was hoping to determine whether or not there have been periods during the last million years when the summer sea ice was smaller than it is today, and if so, why. This long-term historical evolution is a key factor in understanding what is happening to the climate. today, and in our ability to predict what will happen in the future.

This data set contains meteorological, oceanographic and ship data collected during the Swedish-Russian-U.S. expedition SWERUS-C3, which was an international research cruise using the icebreaker Oden in the Arctic Ocean. 

Data includes:
Meteorological variables: Air temperature, Humidity, Wind direction/speed, Atmospheric pressure, Cloud height/cloudiness, Photosynthetic Active Radiation (PAR).

Oceanographic variables: Sea water temperature, Conductivity, Salinity and Sound velocity. 

Ship data: Position, Speed, Course, Water depth.

Quality Information:

Obviously erroneous data (e.g. negative air pressure) have been omitted. No other processing or quality check of the data has been undertaken. Users should be aware of this in further data handling and analysis.
description: SWERUS-C3 var en internationell forskningsexpedition med isbrytaren Oden i Arktiska oceanen. Sammanlagt skulle ett 80-tal forskare, i ett svensk-rysk-amerikanskt samarbete, arbeta i de norra delarna av Laptevhavet, Östsibiriska havet och Tjuktjerhavet. Forskarna undersökte samspelet mellan tinande kryosfär, kol och klimatsystem.

Expeditionen startade i Tromsø, Norge den 6 juli och fortsatte utmed ryska ishavskusten till Barrow, Alaska. Forskare och besättning byttes ut den 20 augusti i Barrow när den andra expeditionsetappen började. På tillbakavägen till Skandinavien korsades Lomonosovryggen, en undervattenskedja nära Nordpolen och expeditionen återvände till Tromsø den 4 oktober.

De viktigaste vetenskapliga frågorna gällde kopplingar mellan klimat, kryosfär och kol, därav namnet "C3". Forskarna studerade vad som händer med den metan som ligger bunden i permafrost och gashydrater i de svårtillgängliga östsibiriska grundhaven.

Den första etappens huvudsakliga frågeställningar handlade om processerna, källorna och flödena av metan i de östsibiriska grundhaven, hur de fungerar nu och hur de kan komma att utvecklas i framtiden. Forskarna skulle bland annat analysera luft och havsvatten, mäta havs-sedimentens sammansättning och studera kolets och metanets transportvägar i hav och is.

Under den andra etappen undersökte forskarna den arktiska havsisens historia, inflödet av relativt varmt Atlantvatten samt omvandling och transport av kol från de östsibiriska grundhaven till Arktiska oceanens djuphav. Under båda etapperna undersöktes de arktiska molnens roll i klimatsystemet.

Syfte:

Syftet med expeditionen var bl.a. att undersöka vad som händer med den metan som ligger bunden i permafrost i de östsibiriska grundhaven. På senare år har forskare upptäckt att stora mängder kol, bland annat som metan, frigörs från den tinande permafrosten och man ville ta reda på om detta kan vara ett uttryck för en kol-klimatåterkoppling, som förstärker den pågående klimatuppvärmningen. I sedimenten på Arktiska oceanens botten finns också spår efter områdets utveckling. Genom att studera sediment ville forskarna få reda på om det har funnits perioder, under de senaste miljoner åren, när sommaristäcket varit mindre, och i så fall varför. Den långsiktiga historiska utvecklingen är en nyckel till kunskap om vad som händer med klimatet i dag samt för att kunna förutspå vad som händer framöver.

This data set contains meteorological, oceanographic and ship data collected during the Swedish-Russian-U.S. expedition SWERUS-C3, which was an international research cruise using the icebreaker Oden in the Arctic Ocean.

Data includes:
Meteorological variables: Air temperature, Humidity, Wind direction/speed, Atmospheric pressure, Cloud height/cloudiness, Photosynthetic Active Radiation (PAR).

Oceanographic variables: Sea water temperature, Conductivity, Salinity and Sound velocity. 

Ship data: Position, Speed, Course, Water depth.

Quality Information:

Obviously erroneous data (e.g. negative air pressure) have been omitted. No other processing or quality check of the data has been undertaken. Users should be aware of this in further data handling and analysis.