Contents Notes |
"The marginal ice zone (MIZ) is defined as the area between the pack ice in the arctic basin and open water areas. In the MIZ, yearly freezing and melting of sea ice causes extreme variations in the physical conditions, which again gives rise to large intra- and inter annual variations in distribution and abundance of biological resources. Exploration for oil and gas in the Barents Sea has recently increased, and Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA's and Environmental Risk Assessments (ERA's) for operations in the area have ... demonstrated a major lack of knowledge on the geographic distribution of biological resources in the MIZ. Ice edge resource module (IERM) is a tool which presents a predicted distribution of biological resources, based on these resources' correlation with abiotic factors, such as ice condition and water temperature ... "--Report Summary, p. 1. |