Distribution of biogenic particulate matter in the surface waters of the Bering Sea basin, winter 1993

• Main Author: Akihiro Shiomoto
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries 2002
• Subjects: Bering Sea basin; winter; biogenic silica (BSi); particulate organic carbon (POC); BSi/POC atomic ratio; Antarctic; Antarctic Ocean; Bering Sea; Antarc*; Polar bioscience
• Online Access: https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=6179; http://id.nii.ac.jp/1291/00006179/; https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=6179&item_no=1&attribute_id=18&file_no=1

Biogenic silica (BSi), particulate organic carbon (POC) and nitrogen (PON) and chlorophyll α (Chl α) of surface waters were measured in the Bering Sea basin from January through March 1993. BSi concentration varied extraordinarily among stations (0.01-0.59μM) and was relatively high in the central region. POC and PON concentrations showed variations of several fold among stations (2.28-11.38μM for POC and 0.36-2.11μM for PON), and were relatively high in the eastern region. The regional variations of POC and PON concentrations reflected that of Chl α concentration, whereas the same results were not found for the BSi concentration. Extraordinary variation was found in the BSi/POC atomic ratio (<0.01-0.21), and values above average (>0.070) were observed in the central region. Values higher than 0.13,the typical atomic ratio of cellular silicon to cellular carbon for culture diatoms, were also found. In contrast, POC/PON atomic ratios were roughly uniform (mostly 4-10) and the average was 6. 7. The present results show a possibility that diatoms with high silicon demand occur in the Bering Sea basin in winter. In addition, I also compared the characteristics of biogenic particulate matter with those in the summertime Bering Sea basin and in the wintertime Antarctic Ocean.