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Preface The expedition ARK XIX/3 with the German icebreaking RV ...

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has spent in organising <strong>the</strong> coring and all her o<strong>the</strong>r input on board, including<br />

introducing us in <strong>the</strong> HMMV microbiology. Norbert Lensch and Tom Feseker took<br />

great care of <strong>the</strong> MUC sampling. Jan Wegner provided us <strong>with</strong> video images on <strong>the</strong><br />

MUC deployments in situ, which will make blind sampling never <strong>the</strong> same again. <strong>The</strong><br />

people of Genavir are thanked sincerely for anticipating maximally to our scientific<br />

wishes. <strong>The</strong> crew of "Polarstern" for <strong>the</strong>ir continuously help and taking care. All<br />

participants of <strong>the</strong> <strong>ARK</strong> <strong>XIX</strong>/3b for <strong>the</strong>ir pleasant company. And last but not <strong>the</strong> least<br />

Melanie Bergmann and also Natalia Kukina, for helping me in processing <strong>the</strong> mud.<br />

C. Cruise leg <strong>ARK</strong> <strong>XIX</strong>/3c: Interdisciplinary research at <strong>the</strong> deep-sea long-term<br />

station AWI-"Hausgarten" – an Introduction<br />

Soltwedel, T. and <strong>the</strong> shipboard scientific party<br />

<strong>The</strong> deep sea represents <strong>the</strong> largest ecosystem on earth. Due to its enormous<br />

dimensions and inaccessibility, <strong>the</strong> deep-sea realm is <strong>the</strong> world’s least known habitat.<br />

To understand ecological ties, <strong>the</strong> assessment of temporal variabilities is essential.<br />

Only long-term investigations at selected sites, describing seasonal and interannual<br />

variations, can help to identify changes in environmental settings determining <strong>the</strong><br />

structure, <strong>the</strong> complexity, and <strong>the</strong> development of deep-sea communities. <strong>The</strong><br />

opportunity to measure processes on sufficient time scales will also help to<br />

differentiate between natural variabilities and environmental changes due to<br />

anthropogenic impacts.<br />

High latitudes are amongst <strong>the</strong> most sensitive environments in respect to climate<br />

change, a fact urgently demanding <strong>the</strong> assessment of time series especially in polar<br />

regions. AWI-“Hausgarten” represents <strong>the</strong> first and only deep-sea long-term station at<br />

high latitudes. Following a pre-site study using <strong>the</strong> French ROV "Victor 6000",<br />

“Hausgarten” was established in summer 1999 in <strong>the</strong> eastern Fram Strait west off<br />

Spitsbergen (Fig. C1). Beside a central experimental area at 2500 m water depth, we<br />

defined 9 stations along a depth transect between 1000 - 5500 m, which are revisited<br />

yearly to analyse seasonal and interannual variations in biological, geochemical and<br />

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