Tracing the transport of colored dissolved organic matter in water masses of the Southern Beaufort Sea: relationship with hydrographic characteristics

• Published in: Biogeosciences
• Main Authors: Matsuoka, Hideki, Bricaud, Annick, Benner, Ronald, Sempere, Richard, Para, Julien, Prieur, Louis, Bélanger, Simon, Babin, Marcel
• Other Authors: Laboratoire d'océanographie de Villefranche (LOV), Observatoire océanologique de Villefranche-sur-mer (OOVM), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Takuvik Joint International Laboratory ULAVAL-CNRS, Université Laval Québec (ULaval)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Department of Biological Sciences and Marine Science Program, University of South Carolina Columbia, Institut méditerranéen d'océanologie (MIO), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Toulon (UTLN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR), The publication of this article is financed by CNRS-INSU
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2012
• Subjects: [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Beaufort Sea; Mackenzie river; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02050187; https://hal.science/hal-02050187/document; https://hal.science/hal-02050187/file/bg-9-925-2012.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-9-925-2012

International audience Light absorption by colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) [a CDOM (λ)] plays an important role in the heat budget of the Arctic Ocean, contributing to the recent decline in sea ice, as well as in biogeochemical processes. We investigated a CDOM (λ) in the Southern Beaufort Sea where a significant amount of CDOM is delivered by the Mackenzie River. In the surface layer, a CDOM (440) showed a strong and negative correlation with salinity, indicating strong river influence and conservative transport in the river plume. Below the mixed layer, a weak but positive correlation between a CDOM (440) and salinity was observed above the upper halocline, resulting from the effect of removal of CDOM due to brine rejection and lateral intrusion of Pacific summer waters into these layers. In contrast, the relationship was negative in the upper and the lower haloclines, suggesting these waters originated from Arctic coastal waters. DOC concentrations in the surface layer were strongly correlated with a CDOM (440) (r 2 = 0.97), suggesting that this value can be estimated in this area, using a CDOM (440) that is retrieved using satellite ocean color data. Implications for estimation of DOC concentrations in surface waters using ocean color remote sensing are discussed.