The Arctic Ocean Diversity (ArcOD) project is an international effort to inventory the diversity of marine life in the three major Arctic realms: sea ice, water column, and sea floor – from the shallow shelves to the deep basins.
Substantial gaps in the Arctic’s biodiversity inventory hamper the ability to fully detect the magnitude and extent of these changes.
ArcOD’s approach has been to compile data on the known, improve taxonomic resolution of already collected materials and begin to fill geographic and taxonomic gaps with new collections.
The most substantial limit to the current knowledge is the temporal variability of biodiversity patterns in the Arctic, in particular vulnerability of Arctic biota to climate change and the increasing human footprint in the area.
[citation needed] The RUSALCA expeditions are reported to have achieved more than the participants could have done alone.