Episodic Upwelling of Zooplankton within a Bowhead Whale Feeding Area near Barrow, AK

• Main Authors: Ashjian, Carin J., Campbell, Robert G., Okkonen, Stephen R., Stafford, Kathleen M.
• Other Authors: WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION MA DEPT OF BIOLOGY
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Biological Oceanography; Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; Snow; Ice and Permafrost; *CONTINENTAL SHELVES; *WHALES; *ZOOPLANKTON; EXCHANGE; CLIMATE CHANGE; UPWELLING; BEAUFORT SEA; FEEDING; SEASONAL VARIATIONS; WIND; SEA ICE; BOWHEAD WHALES; FEEDING AREAS; BARROW(ALASKA); BARROW CANYON; BEAUFORT SHELF; Pacific; Beaufort Shelf; Barrow Canyon; Barrow; Beaufort Sea; bowhead whale; Episodic Upwelling of Zooplankton within a Bowhead Whale Feeding Area near Barrow, AK; Ice; permafrost; Sea ice; Alaska
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA542168; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA542168

Our overall objectives are to explicitly identify and document the occurrence, frequency, and persistence of wind-driven shelf-slope exchange events at the Barrow Canyon and the Beaufort shelf breaks during the summer and early fall in association with the presence of ice cover, water column stratification, and the presence of bowhead whales and to further document short-term and interannual variability in the ocean system and how this variability is associated with changes in climate and ice. (1) Document exchanges of Pacific Water and plankton/krill (acoustic backscatter as a zooplankton proxy) between Barrow Canyon and the adjacent Beaufort shelf over two full years. (2) Document shelf-slope exchanges between the Beaufort Sea and Beaufort shelf. (3) Determine the seasonal occurrence of bowhead whales in the study area via year-round sampling for marine mammal vocalizations using autonomous recorders. (4) Determine the correlations between exchange events and wind speed and direction, wind duration, ice cover, shelf water column stratification, whale presence or absence, and whale prey selection. (5) Conduct surveys along transects running across Barrow Canyon and across the shelf to ground-truth mooring observations and to continue the two-year time series of observations collected during the larger, NSF funded project to further describe interannual variability and hydrographic and associated biological characteristics on the shelf during early September and to provide critical information for validation of oceanographic modeling of the region.