ESTABLISHING THE ATLANTIC DISTRIBUTED BIOLOGICAL OBSERVATORY
NEWS
Thank you for showing interest and getting involved in shaping a strong A-DBO framework.
We are getting closer to the Arctic Science Summit Week 2023, 17 – 24 February in Vienna, Austria with DBO sessions in both the Community and Science parts of the conference. For details on our sessions, see "Upcoming Events" further down. Please join us there in person, or online!
BACKGROUND
The Atlantic-Arctic Distributed Biological Observatory (A-DBO) is under development, and envisioned as a comprehensive marine observing system for climate and environment in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean - one of the key gateway areas of the Arctic, currently experiencing rapid changes in climate and ecosystems.
Together with the pioneering observatory in the Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean (DBO), and the Baffin Bay/Davis Strait DBO, the Atlantic DBO aims to serve as an important contribution to the pan-arctic collaborative observatory network.
The fundamental incentive for the DBO sampling concept is to work toward better integrated and available observations across disciplines within dedicated geographical areas of common interest and relevance (focus areas). The DBOs are shaped to:
• Cover key ocean phenomena and processes under rapid change
• Bring together all disciplines needed to understand the marine ecosystem functioning
• Increase the spatio-temporal data coverage within the focus areas
• Utilize common, harmonized procedures for data sampling and sharing
• Facilitate both dedicated (long-term) and opportunistic sampling
• Encourage technological development for improved multidisciplinary coupling
• Be sustainable and overarch shorter observational efforts
Arctic PASSION currently provides the means for increased coordination capabilities to establish the A-DBO and the common protocols for sampling, analysis and data sharing.
This webpage serves as our main hub of information during the pilot implementation phase. From here you will be able to find contact info, access common documents, and get the latest information about our events. The implementation process is open to scientists and institutions with interest to collaborate in this region, as well as to end-users who will benefit from results from the A-DBO. The opportunities for getting involved are listed in 'Upcoming Events' below.

UPCOMING EVENTS
17 – 24 February, in Vienna, Austria
All DBOs (Pacific, Atlantic, Davis Strait) will be represented at the Arctic Science Summit Week 2023, in both the community and science parts of the conference:
- 20 February 2023 | 10:30 - 18:00 (GMT+1)
Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) Community Meeting (HYBRID)
A detailed agenda is in the making but our day follows this general structure:
10:30 – 12:30 Joint all-DBO session - Status reports from the DBOs and related processes/programs (Hörsaal 1)
14:00 – 15:30 Regional break-out discussions and organizational items (Hörsaal 1, Seminarraum 1, Seminarraum 2)
16:00 – 18:00 Joint all-DBO session - Discussions following the theme "From regional to pan-Arctic perspectives" (Hörsaal 1)
- 21 February 2023 | 14:00 - 15:30 (GMT+1) | 16:00 - 18:00 (GMT+1)
In this session we get inspired by three keynote talks and scientific presentations from the Pacific-Arctic, Davis-Strait and Atlantic-Arctic regions before a panel discussion reflecting on the session theme; in what aspects, and how, can our regional observatories boost the outputs on a pan-Arctic level?
Please note that participation online also is subject of registration, and a registration fee. For information on attending ASSW2023, see the conference website.
PAST ACTIVITIES
A-DBO Autumn Meeting 2022
31 October – 1 November in Bergen, Norway (+ TEAMS)
The first A-DBO dedicated autumn meeting was held with focus on defining the fundamental spatio-temporal characteristics of the A-DBO and the associated core parameters to sample.We also took the opportunity to share news about our recent sampling activities and about our planned cruise activities.
The agenda is found here, and meeting minutes will be posted soon.
ASSW2022 Session on Establishing the Distributed Biological Observatory system in the Atlantic Sector of the Arctic Ocean
27 March 2022 in Tromsø, Norway
A workshop was held during the Arctic Science Summit Week to invigorate the process initiated in 2016 to implement a comprehensive marine observing system for climate and environment in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean. With inspiration from the Pacific DBO system and existing long term observational programmes on the Atlantic side, discussions were initiated about priorities for sampling locations, variables, and methods as well as means of collaboration. A steering group was established to support the work of the executive team.
For a summary of the workshop, please see the meeting minutes.
CONTACTS
Executive team:
Arild Sundfjord (NPI), Marit Reigstad (UiT) and Anna Nikolopoulos (NPI)
Steering group:
Agnieszka Beszczyńska-Möller (IOPAN), Michael Karcher (AWI), Angelika Renner (IMR), Mikael Sejr (AU), Thomas Soltwedel (AWI), and Laura de Steur (NPI).