ArcticSIZE scientists Brandon Hassett and Rolf Gradinger were invited by AWI Germany to participate in the expedition PS106 of the German icebreaker Polarstern in June/July 2017. They will study sea ice biota diversity, primary production and vertical export flux.
Gradinger just came back from the first cruise leg, drifting with one ice floe for two weeks. He was amazed by abundant algal blooms directly under the sea ice, formed by colonies of the diatom species Melosira arctica. This will lead to new ArcticSIZE research questions exploring the food web interactions between zooplankton and M. arctica.
