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Title
  • en Western Arctic primary productivity regulated by shelf-break warm eddies
Creator
Accessrights open access
Rights
  • en The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com
Subject
  • Other en Phytoplankton bloom
  • Other en Eddy dynamics
  • Other en Shelf-basin exchange
  • Other en Pacific-origin water
  • Other en Lower-trophic marine ecosystem model
  • NDC 468
Description
  • Abstract en The response of phytoplankton to the Beaufort shelf-break eddies in the western Arctic Ocean is examined using the eddy-resolving coupled sea ice–ocean model including a lower-trophic marine ecosystem formulation. The regional model driven by the reanalysis 2003 atmospheric forcing from March to November captures the major spatial and temporal features of phytoplankton bloom following summertime sea ice retreat in the shallow Chukchi shelf and Barrow Canyon. The shelf-break warm eddies spawned north of the Barrow Canyon initially transport the Chukchi shelf water with high primary productivity toward the Canada Basin interior. In the eddy-developing period, the anti-cyclonic rotational flow along the outer edge of each eddy moving offshore occasionally traps the shelf water. The primary production inside the warm eddies is maintained by internal dynamics in the eddy-maturity period. In particular, the surface central area of an anti-cyclonic eddy acquires adequate light, nutrient, and warm environment for photosynthetic activity partly attributed to turbulent mixing with underlying nutrient-rich water. The simulated biogeochemical properties with the dominance of small-size phytoplankton inside the warm eddies are consistent with the observational findings in the western Arctic Ocean. It is also suggested that the light limitation before autumn sea ice freezing shuts down the primary production in the shelf-break eddies in spite of nutrient recovery. These results indicate that the time lag between the phytoplankton bloom in the shelf region following the summertime sea ice retreat and the eddy generation along the Beaufort shelf break is an important index to determine biological regimes in the Canada Basin.
Publisher en Oceanographic Society of Japan
Date
    Issued2012-10
Language
  • eng
Resource Type journal article
Version Type AM
Identifier HDL http://hdl.handle.net/2115/53444
Relation
  • isVersionOf DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s10872-012-0128-6
Journal
    • PISSN 0916-8370
    • EISSN 1573-868X
    • NCID AA10833529
      • en Journal of oceanography
      • Volume Number68 Issue Number5 Page Start703 Page End718
File
Oaidate 2023-07-26