The Western Arctic Shelf–Basin Interactions (SBI) project, volume II: An overview

The Western Arctic Shelf–Basin Interactions (SBI) project is a 10-year Arctic environmental change program. A major field campaign occurred in the spring, summer and fall seasons between 2002 and 2004. The SBI program was developed to investigate the production, transformation and fate of carbon on shelf and slope regions of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas and shelf–basin interactions with the Arctic Basin. This 2nd special issue documents many of the key findings, ranging from sea ice and hydrographic changes to water column and sediment dynamics and trophic level interactions during the core Phase II field program. The integration of these results with ongoing synthesis and modeling activities within the SBI program are illustrating the critical importance of this continental shelf environment to understand shelf–basin interactions and the ongoing changes being observed and forecasted in the marine Amerasian Arctic.