Phytoplankton distribution in the Western Arctic Ocean during a summer of exceptional ice retreat

• Main Authors: Coupel, Pierre, Jin, H. Y., Ruiz-Pino, Diana, Chen, J. F., Lee, S. H., Li, H. L., Rafizadeh, Mehrad, Garçon, Véronique, Gascard, Jean-Claude
• Other Authors: Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), The Second Institution of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Hangzhou 310012, China, Pusan National University, DYNBIO LEGOS, Laboratoire d'études en Géophysique et océanographie spatiales (LEGOS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2011
• Subjects: [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-GEO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; [SDU.STU.GP]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; Alpha Ridge; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Bering Strait; Chukchi Borderland; Chukchi Shelf; alpha ridge; Chukchi; Global warming; Phytoplankton
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00920237; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00920237/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00920237/file/bgd-8-6919-2011.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5194/BGD-8-6919-2011

International audience A drastic ice decline in the Arctic Ocean, triggered by global warming, could generate rapid changes in the upper ocean layers. The ice retreat is particularly intense over the Canadian Basin where large ice free areas were observed since 2007. The CHINARE 2008 expedition was conducted in the Western Arctic (WA) ocean during a year of exceptional ice retreat (August-September 2008). This study investigates whether a significant reorganization of the primary producers in terms of species, biomass and productivity has to be observed in the WA as a result of the intense ice melting. Both pigments (HPLC) and taxonomy (microscopy) acquired in 2008 allowed to determine the phytoplanktonic distribution from Bering Strait (65° N) to extreme high latitudes over the Alpha Ridge (86° N) encompassing the Chukchi shelf, the Chukchi Borderland and the Canadian Basin. Two different types of phytoplankton communities were observed. Over the ice-free Chukchi shelf, relatively high chl-a concentrations (1-5 mg m -3 ) dominated by 80 % of diatoms. In the Canadian Basin, surface waters are oligotrophic (<0.1 mg m -3 ) and algal assemblages were dominated by haptophytes and diatoms while higher biomasses (~0.4 mg m -3 ) related to a deep Subsurface Chlorophyll Maximum (SCM) are associated to small-sized (nano and pico) phytoplankton. The ice melting onset allows to point out three different zones over the open basin: (i) the ice free condition characterized by deep and unproductive phytoplankton communities dominated by nanoplankton, (ii) an extended (78°-83° N) Active Melting Zone (AMZ) where light penetration associated to the stratification start off and enough nutrient availability drives to the highest biomass and primary production due to both diatoms and large flagellates, (iii) heavy ice conditions found north to 83° N allowing light limitation and consequently low biomass and primary production associated to pico and nanoplankton. To explain the poverty (Canadian Basin) and the richness (Chukchi ...