NaGISA Polar Seas (PO) became active in October 2006 to cover the shores of the Arctic and the Southern Ocean. Both polar seas share the characteristic that the water temperatures are very low, that seasonality of light is very strong and that the nearshore regions of both seas are seasonally (and sometimes permanently) ice-covered. Both the limited light available and the ice cover impact greatly the development of macroalgal and seagrass communities in the nearshore environment. In fact, no seagrass communities exist in the high polar latitudes. However, in several regions of the Arctic and Antarctic some lush macroalgal communities exist, although these are mainly in the subtidal. Not only the macroalgae but also the associated invertebrates have to be adapted to the special living conditions in the polar seas. Access to the polar nearshore regions can be complicated logistically.

Currently, several sites of boulder fields in the Alaskan Arctic Beaufort Sea have been sampled. Diverse communities of macroalgae and invertebrates are associated with this hard substrate that do not occur in the surrounding soft substrates. Other macroalgal communities occur in the fjords of Arctic Islands, like Svalbard in the European Arctic.

In the Antarctic, rich macroalgal communities exist mainly along the Antarctic Peninsula, with much lesser species richness and biomass in other nearshore areas of the continent. This is in part due to the lack of sufficient light at higher latitudes and in part due to the fact that much of the nearshore coastline is permanently covered by sea ice. Plans exist to sample sites along the Peninsula and in the Eastern Antarctic.

The PI for the PS region is Dr. Katrin Iken with the assistance of Heloise Chenelot of the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Map of Current Sampling Sites in Polar Seas