The ARKTIS Microbial Ecology research cluster aims to investigate the diversity, functions, and year-round dynamics of microbial communities across the Central Arctic Ocean (CAO) and its interconnected habitats, including seawater, sea ice, melt ponds, snow, rain, and bioaerosols. The cluster aims to understand how these distinct yet coupled microbial assemblages shape trophic interactions, biogeochemical cycling, and climate-relevant processes such as the production of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) and climate-active aerosols.
A central focus is on how microbial community composition and genomic adaptations respond to strong seasonal variability and rapid environmental change driven by Arctic amplification, including shifts in sea-ice cover, light availability, and Atlantic water inflow. By moving beyond short-term, summer-biased studies, the cluster seeks to resolve temporal and spatial gaps in Arctic meta’omic datasets and to uncover how microbially mediated processes are linked across the ocean–ice–atmosphere interface. Ultimately, ARKTIS aims to provide a holistic, process-based understanding of Arctic microbial ecosystems and their role in regulating climate feedbacks under ongoing warming.
Research Cluster PI
- Shinichi Sunagawa, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Research Cluster Collaborators
- James O'Brien, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
- Michel Flores, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
- Eric Pelletier, Genoscope, France
- Marija Dmitijeva, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
- Hans-Joachim Ruscheweyh, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
- Charlotte Carlström, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
- Sandrine Kammerecker, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
- Silvia Acinas, CSIC, Barcelona, Spain
- Assaf Vardi, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
- Pierre Galand, Banyuls Oceanographic Observatory, France