During this expedition we studied past and present conditions pertaining to two sedimentary deposits known as contourites on the eastern side of the Fram Strait.

The Fram Strait, west of Svalbard, is the only deep-water strait in which the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans meet. Research in this area is important in the process of expanding our understanding of heat and deep-water exchanges in the Arctic and of global thermohaline circulation.

The expedition centred on the Bellsund and Isfjorden drifts, two contourites built of sediment and formed by Atlantic waters flowing northward along Svalbard’s continental shelf. Analysis of the development of these contourites provides considerable information about the ocean currents that created them.

The expedition unites groups of researchers within various disciplines from Italy, Norway, Poland, Germany, Ireland, and Sweden. Current, temperature, and salinity were measured to map the instantaneous and seasonal conditions. The stratification of the contourites was studied using sediment echo sounding and analyses of two 18-metre-long sediment cores.

Seasonal measurements will continue until the summer of 2015, after which our bottom-anchored measuring rigs will be brought back up.