(Tables 1, 2) Permafrost borehole characteristics in the Nordic Area during the IPY 2007-2009

This paper provides a snapshot of the permafrost thermal state in the Nordic area obtained during the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2009. Several intensive research campaigns were undertaken within a variety of projects in the Nordic countries to obtain this snapshot. We demonstrate for Scandinavia that both lowland permafrost in palsas and peat plateaus, and large areas of permafrost in the mountains are at temperatures close to 0°C, which makes them sensitive to climatic changes. In Svalbard and northeast Greenland, and also in the highest parts of the mountains in the rest of the Nordic area, the permafrost is somewhat colder, but still only a few degrees below the freezing point. The observations presented from the network of boreholes, more than half of which were established during the IPY, provide an important baseline to assess how future predicted climatic changes may affect the permafrost thermal state in the Nordic area. Time series of active-layer thickness and permafrost temperature conditions in the Nordic area, which are generally only 10 years in length, show generally increasing active-layer depths and rising permafrost temperatures.

Copepod abundance and fecal pellet production, sinking rate, and degradation in samples obtained during Leg 7 of Galathea 3 cruise 2006

The vertical distribution of copepods, fecal pellets and the fecal pellet production of copepods were measured at seven stations across the Southern Indian Ocean from productive areas off South Africa to oligotrophic waters off Northern Australia during October/November 2006. We quantified export of copepod fecal pellet from surface waters and how much was retained. Furthermore, the potential impact of Oncaea spp. and harpacticoid copepods on fecal pellets degradation was evaluated and found to be regional substantial. The highest copepod abundance and fecal pellet production was found in the western nutrient-rich stations close to South Africa and the lowest at the central oligotrophic stations. The in situ copepod fecal pellet production varied between 1 and 1,000 µg C/m**3/day. At all stations, the retention of fecal pellets in the upper 400 m of the water column was more than 99% and the vertical export of fecal pellets was low (<0.02 mg/m**2/day).

Mesozooplankton biomass data from the Kapisigdlit an inner fjord branch of the Godthaabsfjord system, West Greenland, 2010

Sampling was conducted from March 24 to August 5 2010, in the fjord branch Kapisigdlit located in the inner part of the Godthåbsfjord system, West Greenland. The vessel "Lille Masik" was used during all cruises except on June 17-18 where sampling was done from RV Dana (National Institute for Aquatic Resources, Denmark). A total of 15 cruises (of 1-2 days duration) 7-10 days apart was carried out along a transect composed of 6 stations (St.), spanning the length of the 26 km long fjord branch. St. 1 was located at the mouth of the fjord branch and St. 6 was located at the end of the fjord branch, in the middle of a shallower inner creek . St. 1-4 was covering deeper parts of the fjord, and St. 5 was located on the slope leading up to the shallow inner creek. Mesozooplankton was sampled by vertical net tows using a Hydrobios Multinet (type Mini) equipped with a flow meter and 50 µm mesh nets or a WP-2 net 50 µm mesh size equipped with a non-filtering cod-end. Sampling was conducted at various times of day at the different stations. The nets were hauled with a speed of 0.2-0.3 m s**-1 from 100, 75 and 50 m depth to the surface at St. 2 + 4, 5 and 6, respectively. The content was immediately preserved in buffered formalin (4% final concentration). All samples were analyzed in the Plankton sorting and identification center in Szczecin (www.nmfri.gdynia.pl). Samples containing high numbers of zooplankton were split into subsamples. All copepods and other zooplankton were identified down to lowest possible taxonomic level (approx. 400 per sample), length measured and counted. Copepods were sorted into development stages (nauplii stage 1 - copepodite stage 6) using morphological features and sizes, and up to 10 individuals of each stage was length measured.

Plankton biomass, POC and PON concentrations, and sinking velocities during the 2008 spring diatom bloom in Disko Bay

Phytoplankton and copepod succession was investigated in Disko Bay, western Greenland from February to July 2008. The spring phytoplankton bloom developed immediately after the breakup of sea ice and reached a peak concentration of 24 mg chl a/m**3 2 wk later. The bloom was analyzed during 3 phases: the developing, the decaying, and the post-bloom phases. Grazing impact by the copepod community was assessed by 4 methods; gut fluorescence, in situ faecal pellet production, and egg and faecal pellet production from bottle incubations. Calanus spp. dominated the mesozooplankton community. They were present from the initiation of the bloom but only had a small grazing impact on the phytoplankton. Consequently, there was a close coupling between the spring phytoplankton bloom and sedimentation of particulate organic carbon (POC). Out of 1836 ±180 mg C/m**2/d leaving the upper 50 m, 60 % was phytoplankton based carbon (PPC). The composition and quality of the sedimenting material changed throughout the bloom succession from PPC dominance in the initial phase with a POC/PON ratio close to 6.6 to a dominance of amorphous detritus with a higher POC/PON ratio (>10) in the post-bloom phase. The succession and fate of the phytoplankton spring bloom was controlled by nitrogen limitation and subsequent sedimentation, while grazing-mediated flux by the Calanus-dominated copepod community played a minor role in the termination of the spring bloom of Disko Bay.