Contribution of under-ice primary production to an ice-edge upwelling phytoplankton bloom in the Canadian Beaufort Sea
International audience The Canadian Beaufort Sea has been categorized as an oligotrophic system with the potential for enhanced production due to a nutrient-rich intermediate layer of Pacific-origin waters. Using under-ice hydrographic data collected near the ice-edge of a shallow Arctic bay, we doc...
Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
HAL CCSD
2009
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-04110655 https://hal.science/hal-04110655/document https://hal.science/hal-04110655/file/Geophysical%20Research%20Letters%20-%202009%20-%20Mundy%20-%20Contribution%20of%20under%E2%80%90ice%20primary%20production%20to%20an%20ice%E2%80%90edge%20upwelling.pdf https://doi.org/10.1029/2009GL038837 |
Summary: | International audience The Canadian Beaufort Sea has been categorized as an oligotrophic system with the potential for enhanced production due to a nutrient-rich intermediate layer of Pacific-origin waters. Using under-ice hydrographic data collected near the ice-edge of a shallow Arctic bay, we documented an ice-edge upwelling event that brought nutrient-rich waters to the surface during June 2008. The event resulted in a 3-week long phytoplankton bloom that produced an estimated 31 g C m -2 of new production. This value was approximately twice that of previous estimates for annual production in the region, demonstrating the importance of ice-edge upwelling to the local marine ecosystem. Under-ice primary production estimates of up to 0.31 g C m -2 d -1 showed that this production was not negligible, contributing up to 22% of the daily averaged production of the ice-edge bloom. It is suggested that under-ice blooms are a widespread yet under-documented phenomenon in polar regions, which could increase in importance with the Arctic's thinning ice cover and subsequent increase in transmitted irradiance to the under-ice environment. |
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