Benthic ecosystem functioning in the Arctic

Samples were collected during the Malina programme at 8 sites ranging in water depth from 47 m to 577 m in July and August 2009 onboard the icebreaker CCGS Amundsen. At each sampling station, an USNEL box corer (50 cm×50 cm×30 cm) was deployed for seafloor sediment collection. From each box core, 3 sub-cores of 10 cm diameter and approximately 20 cm sediment depth were taken for assessing benthic oxygen demand and nutrient remineralisation in microcosm incubations. Six additional sub-cores of 2.4 cm diameter were taken, three of 8 cm and 1 cm length, respectively, for determining sediment pigment concentration, water content and sediment solid phase composition.