Antarctic pack-ice algal distribution : floe-scale spatial variability and predictability from physical parameters

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Meiners, K. M., Arndt, S., Bestley, S., Krumpen, T., Ricker, R., Milnes, M., Newbery, K., Freier, U., Jarman, S., King, R., Proud, R., Kawaguchi, S., Meyer, B.
• Other Authors: University of St Andrews. School of Biology, University of St Andrews. Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews. Pelagic Ecology Research Group
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Sea-ice properties; Snow; Freeboard; Chlorophyll-a; Ice algae; Biomass; GE Environmental Sciences; QH301 Biology; DAS; GE; QH301; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Weddell; Weddell Sea; Alfred Wegener Institute; Antarc*; Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre; ice algae; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/12630; https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL074346; http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2017GL074346/full#footer-support-info

This study was supported by the PACES (Polar Regions and Coasts in a changing Earth System) program (Topic 1, WP 5) of the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, the Helmholtz Virtual Institute „PolarTime“ (VH-VI-500: Biological timing in a changing marine environment — clocks and rhythms in polar pelagic organisms), the Helmholtz Alliance “Remote Sensing and Earth System Dynamics” (HA-310); and by the Australian Government through i) Australian Antarctic Science projects (4073, 4298), ii) the Cooperative Research Centres Programme through the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACE CRC), and iii) the Antarctic Gateway Partnership special research initiative through the Australian Research Council. All data used in this study are available through the Australian Antarctic Data Centre as well as PANGAEA (doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.870706). Antarctic pack ice serves as habitat for microalgae which contribute to Southern Ocean primary production and serve as important food source for pelagic herbivores. Ice algal biomass is highly patchy, and remains severely undersampled by classical methods such as spatially restricted ice-coring surveys. Here we provide an unprecedented view of ice algal biomass distribution, mapped (as chlorophyll-a) in a 100m-by-100m area of a Weddell Sea pack-ice floe, using under-ice irradiance measurements taken with an instrumented Remotely Operated Vehicle. We identified significant correlations (p <0.001) between algal biomass and concomitant in situ surface measurements of snow depth, ice thickness and estimated sea-ice freeboard levels using a statistical model. The model's explanatory power (r2 = 0.30) indicates that these parameters alone may provide a first basis for spatial prediction of ice algal biomass, but parameterisation of additional determinants is needed to inform more robust upscaling efforts. Publisher PDF Peer reviewed