How many independent comparisons cross an ice margin?

An ice-margin transect can contain many samples but only one independent environmental contrast. This methods note combines published principles of replication with Arctic bloom observations to examine how a limited station budget can support a defensible regional question. A hypothetical allocation of eighteen casts compares a dense single crossing with three repeated crossings, distinguishing technical replication, local gradient resolution, and variation among contrasts. The note also separates distance from the present ice edge from time since local retreat and examines sampling order, depth integration, water masses, and access-related missingness. It offers neither a cruise plan nor a power calculation. The useful conclusion is an explicitly bounded association whose claimed replication matches the field design rather than the number of bottles collected.