Vertical distribution of Calanus hyperboreus in the central Arctic Ocean’

• Main Author: John K. Dawson
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Fridtjof; North Pole; Sedov; Calanus hyperboreus; Fridtjof Nansen; ice pack; Spitzbergen
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.489.3140; http://www.aslo.org/lo/toc/vol_23/issue_5/0950.pdf

The vertical distribution of Cdanus hyperboreus was determined for a 23-month period from net samples collected from T-3 Ice Island in the central Arctic Ocean. Distributions of copepoditc stages were similar, but dissimilar to that of the adults. The depth range of the copepodites was 300-500 m, except during summer when they rise to the surface. The adult female population sank gradually from 100 to 300 m in the spring. During summer, females were at the surface and by fall they were centered at about 150 m, where they remained throughout winter. Adult males were centered deeper (400-700 m) than the females and were present only during spring and early summer. Calanus hyperboreus appears to have a generation length of at least 3 years in the central Arctic Ocean. The first plankton was collected from the high polar basin in 1893 by Fridtjof Nansen, when the Frum drifted for 3 years with the ice pack from the New Si-berian Islands to north of Spitzbergen. The Crustacea collected during this drift were later described by Sars (1900). In 1937 a similar drift was followed by the C. Sedov but at higher latitudes (Bogorov 1946). The most fruitful research in the central Arctic Ocean has been by Kus-sians and Americans working from floes and ice islands (e.g. North Pole Series, Arlis II, and T-3) drifting with the polar ice pack. In 1952 a station on T-3 Ice Island was established. Since then, this slab of gla-cial ice has drifted through two cycles in the anticyclonic drift system of the Beau-fort Sea. My study is based on nearly 2 years of collecting while T-3 drifted about a third of the way between Elles-mere Island and the North Pole. Despite the limitations of sampling from T-3, the independent movement of ice and water that lead to the probable sampling of dif-ferent populations over time, T-3 affords a unique opportunity to sample discrete