Free-Drifting Icebergs: Hot Spots of Chemical and Biological Enrichment in the Weddell Sea
The proliferation of icebergs from Antarctica over the past decade has raised questions about their potential impact on the surrounding pelagic ecosystem. Two free-drifting icebergs, 0.1 and 30.8 square kilometers in aerial surface area, and the surrounding waters were sampled in the northwest Wedde...
Published in: | Science |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2007
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1142834 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1142834 |
id |
craaas:10.1126/science.1142834 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
craaas:10.1126/science.1142834 2024-06-23T07:47:52+00:00 Free-Drifting Icebergs: Hot Spots of Chemical and Biological Enrichment in the Weddell Sea Smith, Kenneth L. Robison, Bruce H. Helly, John J. Kaufmann, Ronald S. Ruhl, Henry A. Shaw, Timothy J. Twining, Benjamin S. Vernet, Maria 2007 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1142834 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1142834 en eng American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science volume 317, issue 5837, page 478-482 ISSN 0036-8075 1095-9203 journal-article 2007 craaas https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1142834 2024-05-24T12:53:52Z The proliferation of icebergs from Antarctica over the past decade has raised questions about their potential impact on the surrounding pelagic ecosystem. Two free-drifting icebergs, 0.1 and 30.8 square kilometers in aerial surface area, and the surrounding waters were sampled in the northwest Weddell Sea during austral spring 2005. There was substantial enrichment of terrigenous material, and there were high concentrations of chlorophyll, krill, and seabirds surrounding each iceberg, extending out to a radial distance of ∼3.7 kilometers. Extrapolating these results to all icebergs in the same size range, with the use of iceberg population estimates from satellite surveys, indicates that they similarly affect 39% of the surface ocean in this region. These results suggest that free-drifting icebergs can substantially affect the pelagic ecosystem of the Southern Ocean and can serve as areas of enhanced production and sequestration of organic carbon to the deep sea. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Southern Ocean Weddell Sea AAAS Resource Center (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Austral Southern Ocean Weddell Weddell Sea Science 317 5837 478 482 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
AAAS Resource Center (American Association for the Advancement of Science) |
op_collection_id |
craaas |
language |
English |
description |
The proliferation of icebergs from Antarctica over the past decade has raised questions about their potential impact on the surrounding pelagic ecosystem. Two free-drifting icebergs, 0.1 and 30.8 square kilometers in aerial surface area, and the surrounding waters were sampled in the northwest Weddell Sea during austral spring 2005. There was substantial enrichment of terrigenous material, and there were high concentrations of chlorophyll, krill, and seabirds surrounding each iceberg, extending out to a radial distance of ∼3.7 kilometers. Extrapolating these results to all icebergs in the same size range, with the use of iceberg population estimates from satellite surveys, indicates that they similarly affect 39% of the surface ocean in this region. These results suggest that free-drifting icebergs can substantially affect the pelagic ecosystem of the Southern Ocean and can serve as areas of enhanced production and sequestration of organic carbon to the deep sea. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Smith, Kenneth L. Robison, Bruce H. Helly, John J. Kaufmann, Ronald S. Ruhl, Henry A. Shaw, Timothy J. Twining, Benjamin S. Vernet, Maria |
spellingShingle |
Smith, Kenneth L. Robison, Bruce H. Helly, John J. Kaufmann, Ronald S. Ruhl, Henry A. Shaw, Timothy J. Twining, Benjamin S. Vernet, Maria Free-Drifting Icebergs: Hot Spots of Chemical and Biological Enrichment in the Weddell Sea |
author_facet |
Smith, Kenneth L. Robison, Bruce H. Helly, John J. Kaufmann, Ronald S. Ruhl, Henry A. Shaw, Timothy J. Twining, Benjamin S. Vernet, Maria |
author_sort |
Smith, Kenneth L. |
title |
Free-Drifting Icebergs: Hot Spots of Chemical and Biological Enrichment in the Weddell Sea |
title_short |
Free-Drifting Icebergs: Hot Spots of Chemical and Biological Enrichment in the Weddell Sea |
title_full |
Free-Drifting Icebergs: Hot Spots of Chemical and Biological Enrichment in the Weddell Sea |
title_fullStr |
Free-Drifting Icebergs: Hot Spots of Chemical and Biological Enrichment in the Weddell Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Free-Drifting Icebergs: Hot Spots of Chemical and Biological Enrichment in the Weddell Sea |
title_sort |
free-drifting icebergs: hot spots of chemical and biological enrichment in the weddell sea |
publisher |
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1142834 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1142834 |
geographic |
Austral Southern Ocean Weddell Weddell Sea |
geographic_facet |
Austral Southern Ocean Weddell Weddell Sea |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Southern Ocean Weddell Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Southern Ocean Weddell Sea |
op_source |
Science volume 317, issue 5837, page 478-482 ISSN 0036-8075 1095-9203 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1142834 |
container_title |
Science |
container_volume |
317 |
container_issue |
5837 |
container_start_page |
478 |
op_container_end_page |
482 |
_version_ |
1802638096789929984 |