SvalMIZ-25 Svalbard Marginal Ice Zone Campaign 2025 -- Cruise Report

Abstract: The coupling of weather, sea-ice, ocean, and wave forecasting systems has been a long-standing research focus to improve Arctic forecasting systems and their realism and is also a priority of international initiatives such as the WMO research project PCAPS. The goal of the Svalbard Marginal Ice Zone 2025 Campaign (SvalMIZ-25) was to observe and better understand the complex interplay between atmosphere, waves, and sea-ice in the winter Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ) in order to advance predictive skill of coupled Arctic forecasting systems. The main objective has been to set up a network of observations with a spatial distribution that allows for a representative comparison between in situ observations and gridded model data. The observed variables include air and surface temperature, sea-ice drift, and wave energy spectra. With the support of the Norwegian Coast Guard, we participated in the research cruise with KV Svalbard from 22.April - 11.May 2025. In total 21 buoys were deployed in the Marginal Ice Zone north of the Svalbard Archipelago.