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Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2021. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 126(2), (2021): e2020JC016856, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JC016856., The genus Phaeocystis is distributed globally and has considerable ecological, biogeochemical, and societal impacts. Understanding its distribution, growth and ecological impacts has been limited by lack of extensive observations on appropriate scales. In 2018, we investigated the biological dynamics of the New England continental shelf and encountered a substantial bloom of Phaeocystis pouchetii. Based on satellite imagery during January through April, the bloom extended over broad expanses of the shelf; furthermore, our observations demonstrated that it reached high biomass levels, with maximum chlorophyll concentrations exceeding 16 µg L−1 and particulate organic carbon levels > 95 µmol L−1. Initially, the bloom was largely confined to waters with temperatures <6°C, which in turn were mostly restricted to shallow areas near the coast. As the bloom progressed, it appeared to sink into the bottom boundary layer; however, enough light and nutrients were available for growth. The bloom was highly productive (net community production integrated through the mixed layer from stations within the bloom averaged 1.16 g C m−2 d−1) and reduced nutrient concentrations considerably. Long‐term coastal observations suggest that Phaeocystis blooms occur sporadically in spring on Nantucket Shoals and presumably expand onto the continental shelf. Based on the distribution of Phaeocystis during our study, we suggest that it can have a significant impact on the overall productivity and ecology of the New England shelf during the winter/spring transition., This project was supported by the US National Science Foundation (Grants 1657855, 1657803, and 1657489). NES‐LTER contributions were supported by grants to HMS from NSF (Grant 1655686) and the Simons Foundation (Grant 561126). VPR operations were supported by the Dalio Explore Fund., 2021-07-15

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans 124(6), (2019): 3628-3644, doi:10.1029/2018JC014805., The Arctic Ocean is experiencing profound environmental changes as the climate warms. Understanding how these changes will affect Arctic biological productivity is key for predicting future Arctic ecosystems and the global CO2 balance. Here we use in situ gas measurements to quantify rates of gross oxygen production (GOP, total photosynthesis) and net community production (NCP, net CO2 drawdown by the biological pump) in the mixed layer in summer or fall from 2011 to 2016 in the Beaufort Gyre. NCP and GOP show spatial and temporal variations with higher values linked with lower concentrations of sea ice and increased upper ocean stratification. Mean rates of GOP range from 8 ± 1 to 54 ± 9 mmol O2·m−2·d−1 with the highest mean rates occurring in summer of 2012. Mean rates of NCP ranged from 1.3 ± 0.2 to 2.9 ± 0.5 mmol O2·m−2·d−1. The mean ratio of NCP/GOP, a measure of how efficiently the ecosystem is recycling its nutrients, ranged from 0.04 to 0.17, similar to ratios observed at lower latitudes. Additionally, a large increase in total photosynthesis that occurred in 2012, a year of historically low sea ice coverage, persisted for many years. Taken together, these data provide one of the most complete characterizations of interannual variations of biological productivity in this climatically important region, can serve as a baseline for future changes in rates of production, and give an intriguing glimpse of how this region of the Arctic may respond to future lack of sea ice., We sincerely thank the scientific teams of Fisheries and Oceans Canada's Joint Ocean Ice Studies expedition and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Beaufort Gyre Observing System. The hydrographic, nutrient, and chlorophyll data were collected and made available by the Beaufort Gyre Exploration Program based at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (http://www.whoi.edu/beaufortgyre) in collaboration with researchers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada at the Institute of Ocean Sciences. We thank the captains and crews of the Canadian icebreaker CCGS Louis S. St‐Laurent and Mike Dempsey for sample collection. This paper was improved by the suggestions of Michael DeGrandpre and one anonymous reviewer. We are grateful to Qing Wang at Wellesley College for her assistance with statistics. We thank our funding sources: the National Science Foundation (NSF 1547011, NSF 1302884, NSF 1719280, NSF 1643735) and the support of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Data presented and discussed in this paper can be found in the Arctic Data Center (http://10.18739/A2W389)., 2019-10-30