The expedition ARK XXIX/1, PS92 “TRANSSIZ” (Transitions in the Arctic Seasonal Sea Ice Zone) aims at conducting ecological and biogeochemical early spring process studies along two shelf-to-basin transects of the European Arctic margin, linking past and present sea ice transitions in the Arctic Ocean. Special emphasis will be given to quantify the environmental preconditions for productivity (e.g. nutrients, stratification) to improve predictions of the potential annual primary production in a future ice-free Arctic Ocean as well as determining productivity, sea ice and ocean circulation across the last glacial cycle.

Additionally, the transition of spring to summer in ecosystem functioning and biogeochemical cycles will be studied. The TRANSSIZ expedition is an interdisciplinary field campaign of the ART network in in collaboration with research groups of research divisions of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research  together with scientists from the German BMBF-project Transdrift, as well as from the French-Canadian projects GreenEdge.