(Table 1) Characteristics of air temperature, sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity, nutrients, and total particulate matter for Admiralty Bay and Potter Cove, King George Island, Antarctica

• Main Authors: Schloss, Irene R, Wasilowska, Agnieszka, Dumont, Dany, Almandoz, Gastón Osvaldo, Hernando, M P, Michaud-Tremblay, C-A, Saravia, L, Rzepecki, Marek, Monien, Patrick, Monien, Donata, Kopczynska, E E, Bers, A Valeria, Ferreyra, Gustavo A
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2014
• Subjects: Admiralty_Bay; Carlini/Jubany Station; DATE/TIME; Date/time end; Date/time start; Event label; Jubany_Dallmann; King George Island; Antarctic Peninsula; MULT; Multiple investigations; Nitrate; standard deviation; Phosphate; PotterCove; Potter Cove; Priority Programme 1158 Antarctic Research with Comparable Investigations in Arctic Sea Ice Areas; Salinity; SPP1158; Temperature; air; maximum; minimum; water; Total particulate matter; Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica; Phytoplankton; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.854856; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.854856

Since the early 1990s, phytoplankton has been studied and monitored in Potter Cove (PC) and Admiralty Bay (AB), King George/25 de Mayo Island (KGI), South Shetlands. Phytoplankton biomass is typically low compared to other Antarctic shelf environments, with average spring - summer values below 1 mg chlorophyll a (Chl a)/m**3. The physical conditions in the area (reduced irradiance induced by particles originated from the land, intense winds) limit the coastal productivity at KGI, as a result of shallow Sverdrup's critical depths (Zc) and large turbulent mixing depths (Zt). In January 2010 a large phytoplankton bloom with a maximum of around 20 mg Chl a/m**3, and monthly averages of 4 (PC) and 6 (AB) mg Chl a/m**3, was observed in the area, making it by far the largest recorded bloom over the last 20 yr. Dominant phytoplankton species were the typical bloom-forming diatoms that are usually found in the western Antarctic Peninsula area. Anomalously cold air temperature and dominant winds from the eastern sector seem to explain adequate light : mixing environment. Local physical conditions were analyzed by means of the relationship between Zc and Zt, and conditions were found adequate for allowing phytoplankton development. However, a multiyear analysis indicates that these conditions may be necessary but not sufficient to guarantee phytoplankton accumulation. The relation between maximum Chl a values and air temperature suggests that bottom-up control would render such large blooms even less frequent in KGI under the warmer climate expected in the area during the second half of the present century.