Biological Atlas of the Arctic Biological Atlas of the Arctic Seas 2000:
Plankton of the Barents and Kara Seas

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G. Matishov, P. Makarevich, S. Timofeev, L. Kuznetsov, N. Druzhkov,
V. Larionov, V. Golubev, A. Zuyev, N. Adrov, V. Denisov, G. Iliyn,
A. Kuznetsov, S. Denisenko, V. Savinov, A. Shavikyn
(Murmansk Marine Biological Institute, Russia)

I. Smolyar, S. Levitus, T. O'Brien, O. Baranova
(World Data Center for Oceanography, Silver Spring
Ocean Climate Laboratory,
National Oceanographic Data Center/NOAA, USA)

PREFACE

Both the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea have been the focus of historical studies performed by many generations of Russian researchers. Because Russia has sent expeditions to this area since the 19th century, a large amount of physical, hydrochemical, and hydrobiological data have been collected from this region. These data are useful for the study of a broad range of fundamental problems in oceanography, particularly since the Barents Sea is the final element in the Atlantic Ocean water transformation through the Gulf Stream system. For better understanding of the nature of the processes in this region of the Arctic basin and their prediction, the Gulf Stream system from the Florida Peninsula to the Novaya Zemlya archipelago should be considered as a whole. These reasons outline the long-term objectives in cooperation between the Murmansk Marine Biological Institute, Russian Federation (MMBI) and the World Data Center for Oceanography, Silver Spring (WDC) for generating an oceanographic database and its utilization for ocean studies.

The Biological Atlas of the Arctic Seas 2000 is the second stage in the joint study performed by the MMBI and the WDC within the framework of the GODAR Project (Global Ocean Data Archaeology and Rescue). The first study Climatic Atlas of the Barents Sea 1998: Temperature, Salinity, Oxygen was published in 1998 with copies forwarded to different scientific centers, including Murmansk schools. We are planning to distribute the present publication in a similar way. We believe that this will stimulate an interest in young generations for further examination of the ocean and its biological resources.

This Atlas and associated data are being distributed internationally without restriction via CD-ROM, and the Internet in accordance with the principles of the World Data Center system of the International Council of Scientific Unions and the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.

Sydney Levitus, Director World Data Center for Oceanography, Silver Spring National Oceanographic Data Center/NOAA, USA

Academician Gennady Matishov, Director Murmansk Marine Biological Institute Kola Scientific Center Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Several generations of Russian investigators, observers, and mariners collected hydrobiologic data in the Arctic Seas during the period 1910-1950. These data represent a basic tool for the study of the Arctic Seas. Many scientists involved in this research added to their knowledge, expertise and skill in making marine surveys thanks to the historic investigations of A. Linko, K. Deryugin, B. Manteifel, M. Kamshilov, E. Zelikman, and scientists of other generations.

Over the years, the efforts of the crewmembers of the R/V Pomor and the R/V Dalnie Zelentsy of the MMBI, provided unique opportunities for data collection over the Arctic seas, often facing the severe weather conditions of the polar latitudes.

Special gratitude should be expressed to the crewmembers of the nuclear icebreakers Arktika, Sovetsky Soyuz, Vaigach, and Rossiya as plankton information collected during their cruises provided data for the study of regions previously inaccessible for investigations.

The Kola Scientific Center of the Russia Academy of Sciences, the NOAA Climate and Global Change Program, and the NOAA Environmental Science Data and Information Management program have supported aspects of this work on the development of an oceanographic database and the computation of the plankton characteristics of the Arctic Seas.

A large amount of data has been rescued through the efforts of the UNESCO International Oceanographic Commission (IOC) which sponsors the GODAR project. The NOAA Central Library (Silver Spring, MD, USA), the Slavic and Baltic Division of the New York Public Library (New York, NY, USA), the Dartmouth College Library (Hanover, NH, USA), and the Slavic Library (Helsinki, Finland) served as sources for the valuable data used in this work.

We are indebted to staff of the MMBI and especially to D. Moiseev, T. Kuznetsova, E. Druzhkova, M. Gromov, L. Matyusheva, D. Shirokolobov. We are also indebted to the staff of NODC and the World Data Center for Oceanography (Silver Spring), J. Antonov, T. Boyer, M. Conkright, C. Forgy, S. Fillips, R. Gelfeld, D. Johnson, C. Sazama, C. Stephens, and G.Trammell, who have contributed significantly to the database generation. We acknowledge E. Makarenko for the Russian-English translation of this text.

We would like to express our special gratitude to E. Markhaseva, Ph.D., Zoological Institute (S.Peterburg, Russia), S. Drobusheva, Ph.D., Polar Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (Murmansk, Russia), P. Murphy, Ph.D., and Anthony R. Picciolo, Ph.D., NODC/NOAA (Silver Spring, USA) for editing this publication.