Most of the biological sampling, especially sub-surface, is still done from research vessels and the long distance from ports to the high Arctic adds to the costs and feasibility. Even baseline information regarding physical, chemical and biological conditions is generally lacking in the Arctic Ocean. Similar to physical observations, the main restriction to developing good Arctic biological observation systems is the ice  cover.  Consequently,  there  are  large  knowledge  gaps  concerning  the  presence,  abundance  and distribution of planktonic organisms, fish species, marine mammals and benthic organisms in the Arctic. Furthermore, very little is known about the production capacity at species level, hence also in an ecosystem context. INTAROS intends to make new observations and validate ecosystem models as well as demonstrate the utility of such information to Norwegian and Greenland fisheries and environmental authorities.