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The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC, 2019–2020), a year-long drift with the Arctic sea ice, has provided the scientific community with an unprecedented, multidisciplinary dataset from the Eurasian Arctic Ocean, covering high atmosphere to deep ocean across all seasons. However, the heterogeneity of data and the superposition of spatial and temporal variability, intrinsic to a drift campaign, complicate the interpretation of observations. In this study, we have compiled a quality-controlled physical hydrographic dataset with best spatio-temporal coverage and derived core parameters, including the mixed layer depth, heat fluxes over key layers, and friction velocity. We provide a comprehensive and accessible overview of the ocean conditions encountered along the MOSAiC drift, discuss their interdisciplinary implications, and compare common ocean climatologies to these new data. Our results indicate that, for the most part, ocean variability was dominated by regional rather than seasonal signals, carrying potentially strong implications for ocean biogeochemistry, ecology, sea ice, and even atmospheric conditions. Near-surface ocean properties were strongly influenced by the relative position of sampling, within or outside the river-water influenced Transpolar Drift, and seasonal warming and meltwater input. Ventilation down to the Atlantic Water layer in the Nansen Basin allowed for a stronger connectivity between subsurface heat and the sea ice and surface ocean via elevated upward heat fluxes. The Yermak Plateau and Fram Strait regions were characterized by heterogeneous water mass distributions, energetic ocean currents, and stronger lateral gradients in surface water properties in frontal regions. Together with the presented results and core parameters, we offer context for interdisciplinary research, fostering an improved understanding of the complex, coupled Arctic System. 

Understanding how species are responding to environmental change is a central challenge for stewards and managers of fish and wildlife who seek to maintain harvest opportunities for communities and Indigenous peoples. This is a particularly daunting but increasingly important task in remote, high‐latitude regions where environmental conditions are changing rapidly and data collection is logistically difficult. The Arctic–Yukon–Kuskokwim (AYK) region encompasses the northern extent of the Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha range where populations are experiencing rapid rates of environmental change across both freshwater and marine habitats due to global climate change. Climate–salmon interactions in the AYK region are a particularly pressing issue as many local communities have a deep reliance on a subsistence way of life. Here, we synthesize perspectives shared at a recent workshop on Chinook Salmon declines in the AYK region. The objectives were to discuss current understandings of climate–Chinook Salmon interactions, develop a set of outstanding questions, review available data and its limitations in addressing these questions, and describe the perspectives expressed by participants in this workshop from diverse backgrounds. We conclude by suggesting pathways forward to integrate different types of information and build relationships among communities, academic partners, and fishery management agencies. 

Community monitoring can track environmental phenomena, resource use, and natural resource management processes of concern to community members. It can also contribute to planning and decision-making and empower community members in resource management. While community monitoring that addresses the environmental crisis is growing, it also gathers data on other global challenges: climate change, social welfare, and health. Some environmental community monitoring programs are challenged by limited collective action and community participation, insufficient state responsiveness to data and proposals, and lack of sustainability over time. Additionally, community members monitoring the environment are increasingly harassed and sometimes killed. Community monitoring is more effective with improved data collection, improved data management and sharing, andstronger efforts to meet community information needs, enable conflict resolution, and strengthen self-determination. Other promising areas for development are further incorporating governance issues, embracing integrated approaches at the community level, and establishing stronger links to national and global frameworks. 

Rapid Arctic environmental change requires improved collaboration across observing activities that support adaptation and response from local to pan-Arctic scales. The Research Networking Activities in Support of Sustained Coordinated Observations of Arctic Change (RNA CoOBs), in partnership with the Food Security Working Group (FSWG), supports an Indigenous-led project on food security. These efforts tie into the broader goals of the Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks (SAON) Roadmap for Arctic Observing and Data Systems (ROADS). SAON is an open initiative of the International Arctic Science Committee and the Arctic Council, uniting Arctic and non-Arctic countries and Indigenous, regional, and global organizations that support improved observing network development and integration. SAON has been advancing a partnership development framework under ROADS that adds value to different observing activities by providing common context and identifying shared goals. 

Arctic observing and data systems have been widely recognized as critical infrastructures to support decision making and understanding across sectors in the Arctic and globally. Yet due to broad and persistent issues related to coordination, deployment infrastructure and technology gaps, the Arctic remains among the most poorly observed regions on the planet from the standpoint of conventional observing systems. Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks (SAON) was initiated in 2011 to address the persistent shortcomings in the coordination of Arctic observations that are maintained by its many national and organizational partners. SAON set forth a bold vision in its 2018 – 28 strategic plan to develop a roadmap for Arctic observing and data systems (ROADS) to specifically address a key gap in coordination efforts—the current lack of a systematic planning mechanism to develop and link observing and data system requirements and implementation strategies in the Arctic region. This coordination gap has hampered partnership development and investments toward improved observing and data systems. ROADS seeks to address this shortcoming through generating a systems-level view of observing requirements and implementation strategies across SAON’s many partners through its roadmap. A critical success factor for ROADS is equitable participation of Arctic Indigenous Peoples in the design and development process, starting at the process design stage to build needed equity. ROADS is both a comprehensive concept, building from a societal benefit assessment approach, and one that can proceed step-wise so that the most imperative Arctic observations—here described as shared Arctic variables (SAVs)—can be rapidly improved. SAVs will be identified through rigorous assessment at the beginning of the ROADS process, with an emphasis in that assessment on increasing shared benefit of proposed system improvements across a range of partnerships from local to global scales. The success of the ROADS process will ultimately be measured by the realization of concrete investments in and well-structured partnerships for the improved sustainment of Arctic observing and data systems in support of societal benefit. 

The geographic settings and interests of diverse groups of rights- and stakeholders figure prominently in the need for internationally coordinated Arctic observing systems. Global and regional observing systems exist to coordinate observations across sectors and national boundaries, leveraging limited resources into widely available observational data and information products. Observing system design and coordination approaches developed for more focused networks at mid- and low latitudes are not necessarily directly applicable in more complex Arctic settings. Requirements for the latter are more demanding because of a greater need for cross-disciplinary and cross-sectoral prioritization and refinement from the local to the pan-Arctic scale, in order to maximize the use of resources in challenging environmental settings. Consideration of Arctic Indigenous Peoples’s observing priorities and needs has emerged as a core tenet of governance and coordination frameworks. We evaluate several different types of observing systems relative to the needs of the Arctic observing community and information users to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each framework. A typology of three approaches emerges from this assessment: “essential variable,” “station model,” and “central question.” We define and assess, against the requirements of Arctic settings, the concept of shared Arctic variables (SAVs) emerging from the Arctic Observing Summit 2020 and prior work by the Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks Road Mapping Task Force. SAVs represent measurable phenomena or processes that are important enough to multiple communities and sectors to make the effort to coordinate observation efforts worthwhile. SAVs align with essential variables as defined, for example, by global observing frameworks, in that they guide coordinated observations across processes that are of interest to multiple sectors. SAVs are responsive to the information needs of Arctic Indigenous Peoples and draw on their capacity to codesign and comanage observing efforts. SAVs are also tailored to accommodate the logistical challenges of Arctic operations and address unique aspects of the Arctic environment, such as the central role of the cryosphere. Specific examples illustrate the flexibility of the SAV framework in reconciling different observational approaches and standards such that the strengths of global and regional observing programs can be adapted to the complex Arctic environment. 

Abstract Effective responses to rapid environmental change rely on observations to inform planning and decision-making. Reviewing literature from 124 programs across the globe and analyzing survey data for 30 Arctic community-based monitoring programs, we compare top-down, large-scale program driven approaches with bottom-up approaches initiated and steered at the community level. Connecting these two approaches and linking to Indigenous and local knowledge yields benefits including improved information products and enhanced observing program efficiency and sustainability. We identify core principles central to such improved links: matching observing program aims, scales, and ability to act on information; matching observing program and community priorities; fostering compatibility in observing methodology and data management; respect of Indigenous intellectual property rights and the implementation of free, prior, and informed consent; creating sufficient organizational support structures; and ensuring sustained community members’ commitment. Interventions to overcome challenges in adhering to these principles are discussed.