Relationship between Viral and prokaryotic abundance along a transect from the Kronebreen Glacier to offshore in the Kongsfjorden (Svalbard Islands)

In the framework of the ARCA project (ARctic: present Climatic change and pAst extreme events) aimed at studying the hydrological cycle and its consequences on the climate in the boreal hemisphere, a first prototype of automatic equipment was specifically designed to perform discrete sampling of waters in the area close to a glacier. The Shark USSV (Unmanned Semi-Submersible Vehicle) designed and built by CNR-ISSIA was used for collecting samples in the stretch of sea near the Kronebreen glacier (Kongsfjorden); this was the first time that an autonomous sampling was carried out near the front of the glacier. Shark was used to tow along a transect and via an adequate rope a small catamaran carrying an Automatic Water Multisampler built by CNR-IAMC. In June 2015, surface water samples were collected by the automatic Multisampler along a transect of 9 stations located from the Kronebreen glacier (St 6) to an outer stations (St 9). This research reports the results of the first in situ application of this device related to the study of the distributions of prokaryotes, virus-like particles and nutrients.