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Seasonality of the Physical and Biogeochemical Hydrography in the Inflow to the Arctic Ocean Through Fram Strait
- Source :
- Frontiers in Marine Science, Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 5 (2018)
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Frontiers Media, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Source and supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00224 . Eastern Fram Strait and the shelf slope region north of Svalbard is dominated by the advection of warm, salty and nutrient-rich Atlantic Water (AW). This oceanic heat contributes to keeping the area relatively free of ice. The last years have seen a dramatic decrease in regional sea ice extent, which is expected to drive large increases in pelagic primary production and thereby changes in marine ecology and nutrient cycling. In a concerted effort, we conducted five cruises to the area in winter, spring, summer and fall of 2014, in order to understand the physical and biogeochemical controls of carbon cycling, for the first time from a year-round point of view. We document (1) the offshore location of the wintertime front between salty AW and fresher Surface Water in the ocean surface, (2) thermal convection of Atlantic Water over the shelf slope, likely enhancing vertical nutrient fluxes, and (3) the importance of ice melt derived upper ocean stratification for the spring bloom timing. Our findings strongly confirm the hypothesis that this “Atlantification,” as it has been called, of the shelf slope area north of Svalbard resulting from the advection of AW alleviates both nutrient and light limitations at the same time, leading to increased pelagic primary productivity in this region.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Biogeochemical cycle
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
lcsh:QH1-199.5
Ocean Engineering
Aquatic Science
lcsh:General. Including nature conservation, geographical distribution
Oceanography
01 natural sciences
Atlantic water
fram strait
hydrography
nutrients
Barents Sea
Arctic Ocean
Sea ice
Hydrography
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Marine biology: 497
lcsh:Science
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Water Science and Technology
Global and Planetary Change
geography
Shelf slope
geography.geographical_feature_category
Advection
010604 marine biology & hydrobiology
carbon
Front (oceanography)
Pelagic zone
shelf slope
barents sea
Spring bloom
VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Marinbiologi: 497
Environmental science
lcsh:Q
Arctic ocean
Surface water
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Frontiers in Marine Science, Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 5 (2018)
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....ac5e332a85946625af0f98db7e5a02e2