Ice Flora (Bottom Type): A Mechanism of Primary Production in Polar Seas and the Growth of Diatoms in Sea Ice’ HIROSHI MEGURO, ~ KUNIYUKI ITO,~
ABSTRACT. A field survey off Barrow in the summer of 1964 revealed that sea ice in the Artic develops a layered structure through the growth of diatoms. The diatoms increase in brine solutions which occur in the microfissures between fine crystals of sea ice and form a brown-coloured layer near the...
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Language: | English |
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Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.489.9344 http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic20-2-114.pdf |
Summary: | ABSTRACT. A field survey off Barrow in the summer of 1964 revealed that sea ice in the Artic develops a layered structure through the growth of diatoms. The diatoms increase in brine solutions which occur in the microfissures between fine crystals of sea ice and form a brown-coloured layer near the bottom. The chlorophyll content of the layer studied was 120 pg/l., or one hundred times greater than that of the sea water under the ice, leading to the hypothesis that the most important production of the Arctic is in sea ice, especially in spring and in early summer. Studies were also made of the flora of diatoms and of the mechanism of sea-ice degradation as related to its biological effects. In this paper arctic and antarctic condi-tions are compared. R É S U M ~. Flore de la glace (trpe basal): mécanisme de production première dans les merspolaires et croissance des diatomées dans la glace de mer. Durant l’été de 1964, une ttude effectuée au large de Barrow a rtvélt que, dans l’Arctique, la glace de mer prtsente une structure stratifiée par la croissance de diatomées. Ces diatomEes se multiplient dans les solutions salines des microfissures entre les fins cristaux de la glace et forment une couche brune pres de la surface inftrieure. Le contenu chlorophyllien de la couche étudiée était de 120 pg par litre, c’est-&dire cent fois plus grand que celui de l’eau de mer sous la glace, ce qui permet d’tmettre l’hypothese que, dans l’Arctique, la production premiere se fait dans la glace de mer. surtout au printemps et au début de l’6té. Des ttudes ont aussi Cté menées sur la flore des diatomées et le mécanisme de dégradation de la glace lié aux effets biologiques; on a finalement compart les conditions arctiques et antarctiques. |
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