BERING SEA ICE DYNAMICS AND PRIMARY PRODUCTION

• Main Authors: Vera Alexander, Susan M. Henrichs, H. J. Niebauer
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Bering Sea; ice algae; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.550.3714; http://polaris.nipr.ac.jp/~penguin/polarbiosci/issues/pdf/1996-Alexander.pdf

Abstract: Sea ice communities in multi-year ice can accumulate a high algal biomass and develop a complex food web, and most higher trophic level biota of the regions north of 70 to 80Â ° depend on this for food. Further to the south, even within the seasonal sea ice zone, processes associated with the sea ice influence the biological regimes in important ways. For example, the biological spring is advanced on the order of weeks in the presence of sea ice, due to the development of populations of ice algae and subsequently, as the ice melts, the generation of an early spring bloom. In this paper, the influence of ice on the primary production regimes of arctic seas is discussed, with particular emphasis on the seasonal sea ice zone. Specific examples from recent work on the Bering Sea are included. 1.