This dataset comprises measurements from moored CTD instruments, collected by the Mooring Dirigibile Italia (MDI), which is managed by the Institute of Polar Sciences of the National Research Council (CNR). The data was gathered at Kongsfjorden, Svalbard Island, between 9 September 2010 and 29 August 2023. This dataset is also part of the SIOS-Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System, developed to observe the impacts of climate change, including the rapid loss of sea ice cover, the retreat of local glaciers, and the Atlantification of Arctic seas. Measured properties are: sea-water pressure, temperature, potential temperature, practical salinity, density, turbidity and dissolved oxygen in sea-water. The acquisition of this time series data is still ongoing and will continue, bolstered by the inclusion of this infrastructure within the framework of the Italian PNRR project ITINERIS. This ensures sustained data collection and further enhances our understanding of the observed environmental changes.

The Italian project CASSANDRA is part of the international framework of the Synoptic Arctic Survey which seeks to collect oceanographic data in the Arctic Ocean in the two-year period 2020-2021 involving the coordination of many research vessels belonging to different nations. The aim is to determine the current state and major ongoing changes in the Arctic marine system by generating an oceanographic dataset that allows for a comprehensive characterization of Arctic hydrography and circulation, carbon uptake and ocean acidification, the distribution of possible pollutants, the functioning and productivity of organisms and ecosystems.