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The Multi-disciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC), was conducted from October 2019 to September 2020. The Research Vessel Polarstern was frozen into the ice in the Central Arctic Ocean north of Norway and drifted with the prevailing currents from north to south, traversing multiple Arctic basins and regimes and serving as a floating laboratory for an international, multidisciplinary program focusing on multiple facets of ice, ocean, atmosphere, biogeochemistry, and ecosystem responses to ongoing changing environmental conditions. Zooplankton ecology was investigated as part of the ecosystem team program. Abundance data from the area has been limited, particularly for the winter season. Weekly net tows were scheduled with multiple nets (mesh sizes 53, 150 and 1000 microns (µm)) to add to that data. This data set contains zooplankton abundance data (individuals per cubic meter) for the 53 µm ring net samples, sampling location and net depth information. Abundant zooplankton were identified to species and stage, including nauplii. Less abundant specimens were identified to subgroup, genus, group or family. 

The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition was conducted from October 2019-September 2020. During this ~1 year period, the Research Vessel (R/V) Polarstern was frozen into the ice in the Central Arctic Ocean north of Norway and drifted with the prevailing currents from north to south, traversing multiple Arctic basins and regimes, and was re-located in late July to near the North Pole after drifting through Fram Strait. The ship served as a floating laboratory for an international, multidisciplinary program focusing on multiple facets of ice, ocean, atmosphere, biogeochemistry, and ecosystem responses to ongoing changing environmental conditions. Zooplankton ecology was investigated as part of the ecosystem team program. Here we present data on key zooplankton rate processes collected over the period of the drift including: respiration, feeding, and reproduction. 

Abundance (ind. m-3) of zooplankton taxa was calculated from samples of Polarstern cruise PS122 (MOSAiC). Samples were taken with a Ring net with an opening area of 0.79 m2 and a mesh size of 1000 µm. Samples were analysed via image-based ZooScan analysis. The classified images are available at the web application EcoTaxa: https://ecotaxa.obs-vlfr.fr/prj/9966. 

The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition was conducted from October 2019-September 2020. During this ~1 year period, the Research Vessel (R/V) Polarstern was frozen into the ice in the Central Arctic Ocean north of Norway and drifted with the prevailing currents from north to south, traversing multiple Arctic basins and regimes, and was re-located in late July to near the North Pole after drifting through Fram Strait. The ship served as a floating laboratory for an international, multidisciplinary program focusing on multiple facets of ice, ocean, atmosphere, biogeochemistry, and ecosystem responses to ongoing changing environmental conditions. Zooplankton ecology was investigated as part of the ecosystem team program. Here we present data on key zooplankton morphological and compositional parameters collected over the period of the drift. This data set contains the carbon and nitrogen content (micrograms [µg]) and lengths for individuals or groups of calanoid copepods and other taxa (e.g., amphipods, chaetognaths), width (micrometers [µm]) for copepods, and body area (micrometers squared [µm2]) and lipid sac area (µm2) for Calanus spp. copepods collected in different water depth intervals at approximately weekly intervals during the period of the drift. 

The international and interdisciplinary sea-ice drift expedition “The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate” (MOSAiC) was conducted from October 2019 to September 2020. The aim of MOSAiC was to study the interconnected physical, chemical, and biological characteristics and processes from the atmosphere to the deep sea of the central Arctic system. The ecosystem team addressed current knowledge gaps and explored unknown biological properties over a complete seasonal cycle focusing on three major research areas: biodiversity, biogeochemical cycles, and linkages to the environment. In addition to the measurements of core properties along a complete seasonal cycle, dedicated projects covered specific processes and habitats, or organisms on higher taxonomic or temporal resolution in specific time windows. A wide range of sampling instruments and approaches, including sea-ice coring, lead sampling with pumps, rosette-based water sampling, plankton nets, remotely operated vehicles, and acoustic buoys, was applied to address the science objectives. Further, a broad range of process-related measurements to address, for example, productivity patterns, seasonal migrations, and diversity shifts, were made both in situ and onboard RV Polarstern. This article provides a detailed overview of the sampling approaches used to address the three main science objectives. It highlights the core sampling program and provides examples of habitat- or process-specific sampling. The initial results presented include high biological activities in wintertime and the discovery of biological hotspots in underexplored habitats. The unique interconnectivity of the coordinated sampling efforts also revealed insights into cross-disciplinary interactions like the impact of biota on Arctic cloud formation. This overview further presents both lessons learned from conducting such a demanding field campaign and an outlook on spin-off projects to be conducted over the next years.