The Barents and Chukchi Seas: Comparison of two Arctic shelf ecosystems
This paper compares and contrasts the ecosystems of the Barents and Chukchi Seas. Despite their similarity in a number of features, the Barents Sea supports a vast biomass of commercially important fish, but the Chukchi does not. Here we examine a number of aspects of these two seas to ascertain how...
Published in: | Journal of Marine Systems |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
eScholarship, University of California
2013
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4sc572cp https://escholarship.org/content/qt4sc572cp/qt4sc572cp.pdf https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmarsys.2012.08.003 |
id |
ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt4sc572cp |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt4sc572cp 2024-09-15T17:57:47+00:00 The Barents and Chukchi Seas: Comparison of two Arctic shelf ecosystems Hunt, George L Blanchard, Arny L Boveng, Peter Dalpadado, Padmini Drinkwater, Kenneth F Eisner, Lisa Hopcroft, Russ R Kovacs, Kit M Norcross, Brenda L Renaud, Paul Reigstad, Marit Renner, Martin Skjoldal, Hein Rune Whitehouse, Andy Woodgate, Rebecca A 2013-01-01 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4sc572cp https://escholarship.org/content/qt4sc572cp/qt4sc572cp.pdf https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmarsys.2012.08.003 unknown eScholarship, University of California qt4sc572cp https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4sc572cp https://escholarship.org/content/qt4sc572cp/qt4sc572cp.pdf doi:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2012.08.003 CC-BY Climate Action Oceanography article 2013 ftcdlib https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmarsys.2012.08.003 2024-06-28T06:28:20Z This paper compares and contrasts the ecosystems of the Barents and Chukchi Seas. Despite their similarity in a number of features, the Barents Sea supports a vast biomass of commercially important fish, but the Chukchi does not. Here we examine a number of aspects of these two seas to ascertain how they are similar and how they differ. We then indentify processes and mechanisms that may be responsible for their similarities and differences.Both the Barents and Chukchi Seas are high latitude, seasonally ice covered, Arctic shelf-seas. Both have strongly advective regimes, and receive water from the south. Water entering the Barents comes from the deep, ice-free and "warm" Norwegian Sea, and contains not only heat, but also a rich supply of zooplankton that supports larval fish in spring. In contrast, Bering Sea water entering the Chukchi in spring and early summer is cold. In spring, this Bering Sea water is depleted of large, lipid-rich zooplankton, thus likely resulting in a relatively low availability of zooplankton for fish. Although primary production on average is similar in the two seas, fish biomass density is an order of magnitude greater in the Barents than in the Chukchi Sea. The Barents Sea supports immense fisheries, whereas the Chukchi Sea does not. The density of cetaceans in the Barents Sea is about double that in the Chukchi Sea, as is the density of nesting seabirds, whereas, the density of pinnipeds in the Chukchi is about double that in the Barents Sea. In the Chukchi Sea, export of carbon to the benthos and benthic biomass may be greater. We hypothesize that the difference in fish abundance in the two seas is driven by differences in the heat and plankton advected into them, and the amount of primary production consumed in the upper water column. However, we suggest that the critical difference between the Chukchi and Barents Seas is the pre-cooled water entering the Chukchi Sea from the south. This cold water, and the winter mixing of the Chukchi Sea as it becomes ice covered, result in ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Barents Sea Bering Sea Chukchi Chukchi Sea Norwegian Sea Zooplankton University of California: eScholarship Journal of Marine Systems 109-110 43 68 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Climate Action Oceanography |
spellingShingle |
Climate Action Oceanography Hunt, George L Blanchard, Arny L Boveng, Peter Dalpadado, Padmini Drinkwater, Kenneth F Eisner, Lisa Hopcroft, Russ R Kovacs, Kit M Norcross, Brenda L Renaud, Paul Reigstad, Marit Renner, Martin Skjoldal, Hein Rune Whitehouse, Andy Woodgate, Rebecca A The Barents and Chukchi Seas: Comparison of two Arctic shelf ecosystems |
topic_facet |
Climate Action Oceanography |
description |
This paper compares and contrasts the ecosystems of the Barents and Chukchi Seas. Despite their similarity in a number of features, the Barents Sea supports a vast biomass of commercially important fish, but the Chukchi does not. Here we examine a number of aspects of these two seas to ascertain how they are similar and how they differ. We then indentify processes and mechanisms that may be responsible for their similarities and differences.Both the Barents and Chukchi Seas are high latitude, seasonally ice covered, Arctic shelf-seas. Both have strongly advective regimes, and receive water from the south. Water entering the Barents comes from the deep, ice-free and "warm" Norwegian Sea, and contains not only heat, but also a rich supply of zooplankton that supports larval fish in spring. In contrast, Bering Sea water entering the Chukchi in spring and early summer is cold. In spring, this Bering Sea water is depleted of large, lipid-rich zooplankton, thus likely resulting in a relatively low availability of zooplankton for fish. Although primary production on average is similar in the two seas, fish biomass density is an order of magnitude greater in the Barents than in the Chukchi Sea. The Barents Sea supports immense fisheries, whereas the Chukchi Sea does not. The density of cetaceans in the Barents Sea is about double that in the Chukchi Sea, as is the density of nesting seabirds, whereas, the density of pinnipeds in the Chukchi is about double that in the Barents Sea. In the Chukchi Sea, export of carbon to the benthos and benthic biomass may be greater. We hypothesize that the difference in fish abundance in the two seas is driven by differences in the heat and plankton advected into them, and the amount of primary production consumed in the upper water column. However, we suggest that the critical difference between the Chukchi and Barents Seas is the pre-cooled water entering the Chukchi Sea from the south. This cold water, and the winter mixing of the Chukchi Sea as it becomes ice covered, result in ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hunt, George L Blanchard, Arny L Boveng, Peter Dalpadado, Padmini Drinkwater, Kenneth F Eisner, Lisa Hopcroft, Russ R Kovacs, Kit M Norcross, Brenda L Renaud, Paul Reigstad, Marit Renner, Martin Skjoldal, Hein Rune Whitehouse, Andy Woodgate, Rebecca A |
author_facet |
Hunt, George L Blanchard, Arny L Boveng, Peter Dalpadado, Padmini Drinkwater, Kenneth F Eisner, Lisa Hopcroft, Russ R Kovacs, Kit M Norcross, Brenda L Renaud, Paul Reigstad, Marit Renner, Martin Skjoldal, Hein Rune Whitehouse, Andy Woodgate, Rebecca A |
author_sort |
Hunt, George L |
title |
The Barents and Chukchi Seas: Comparison of two Arctic shelf ecosystems |
title_short |
The Barents and Chukchi Seas: Comparison of two Arctic shelf ecosystems |
title_full |
The Barents and Chukchi Seas: Comparison of two Arctic shelf ecosystems |
title_fullStr |
The Barents and Chukchi Seas: Comparison of two Arctic shelf ecosystems |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Barents and Chukchi Seas: Comparison of two Arctic shelf ecosystems |
title_sort |
barents and chukchi seas: comparison of two arctic shelf ecosystems |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4sc572cp https://escholarship.org/content/qt4sc572cp/qt4sc572cp.pdf https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmarsys.2012.08.003 |
genre |
Barents Sea Bering Sea Chukchi Chukchi Sea Norwegian Sea Zooplankton |
genre_facet |
Barents Sea Bering Sea Chukchi Chukchi Sea Norwegian Sea Zooplankton |
op_relation |
qt4sc572cp https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4sc572cp https://escholarship.org/content/qt4sc572cp/qt4sc572cp.pdf doi:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2012.08.003 |
op_rights |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmarsys.2012.08.003 |
container_title |
Journal of Marine Systems |
container_volume |
109-110 |
container_start_page |
43 |
op_container_end_page |
68 |
_version_ |
1810433971051298816 |