Abundance and biomass of sub-ice mesozooplankton in the Pechora and Kara Seas in January-April 2000

Zooplankton communities under continuous ice cover in the Kara Sea and near the ice edge in the Pechora Sea were studied. Sampling was carried out from onboard nuclear ice breakers in the period January-April 2000. Breeding of a small-size opportunist species Pseudocalanus acuspes under continuous fast ice of the Gulf of Yenisei began as early as in April, though total mesozooplankton biomass (0.8 mg/m**3) was characteristic of winter condition of community. A classical spring pattern of polychaete and barnacle larvae hatching and euphausiid spawning was observed. Such conditions of the zooplankton community near the ice edge had been described earlier, but this was the first observation of a planktonic community under continuous ice of the Kara Sea

Oceanographic characteristics and microplankton in the Murmansk coastal pelagic zone in March 1998

From March 13 to March 29,1998 a multi-disciplinary expedition of the Murmansk Marine Biological Institute carried out investigations of microplankton in marginal basins of the Murmansk coast (Kola Peninsula). In addition to water sampling the expedition carried out a study of bottom communities of the littoral zone (macrobenthos and littoral foraminifers), sampling of snow, littoral soil, and macrophytes for testing contents of heavy metals and radionuclides