Observations of sea ice interannual variations and spring bloom occurrences at the Japanese scallop farming area in the Okhotsk Sea using satellite imageries

The dynamics of ice formation and phytoplankton bloom development in the coastal region of the Okhotsk Sea, Hokkaido, where the Japanese scallop, Mizuhopecten yessoensis, are cultured were investigated using seven years (1998–2004) satellite data from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) and Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS). The interannual variability of sea ice cover and timing of spring bloom occurrences were analyzed. Longer ice cover in 1999, 2001 and 2003 with the presence of ice until early April and shortened ice cover in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2004 with the occurrence of ice until early March were recognized at this area. Variability in the timing of sea ice retreat and development of spring blooms at the scallop areas were observed. Progression of a single ice edge bloom showed higher Chl-a concentration compared to development of an initial ice edge bloom followed by a later open water bloom. Higher concentration of phytoplankton biomass was observed in the initial bloom when sea ice melting is delayed compared to when the sea ice leaves earlier. Wind events were also observed to affect the occurrences of spring bloom.     

Spatial patterns of primary production on the shelf, slope and basin of the Western Arctic in 2002

In the spring and summer of 2002 primary production in the Chukchi Sea was measured, using ¹⁴C uptake experiments. Our cruise track encompassed the shelf and continental slope area of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas progressing into deep water over the Canada Basin. The study area experienced upwards of 90% ice cover during the spring, with ice retreating into the basin during the summer. Production in the spring was light-limited due to ice cover, with average euphotic zone production rates of <0.3 g C m⁻² d⁻¹. Values of 8 g C m⁻² d⁻¹ were observed in association with surface bloom conditions during the initial ice breakup. Considerable nutrient reduction in the surface waters took place between the spring and summer cruise, and although not observed, this was attributed to a spring bloom. Decreased ice cover and increased clarity of surface waters in the summer allowed greater light penetration. The highest rates of production during the second cruise were found at 25–30 m, coincident with the top of the nutricline. Daily euphotic zone productivity in the summer averaged 0.78 g C m⁻² d⁻¹ on the shelf and 0.32 g C m⁻² d⁻¹ on the edge of the Canada basin. These data provide an estimated annual production of 90 g C m⁻² yr⁻¹ in the study area.     

Phytoplankton of the western Arctic in the spring and summer of 2002: Structure and seasonal changes

We analyzed the taxonomic structure and spatial variability of phytoplankton abundance and biomass in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas during spring and summer seasons of the SBI program. Phytoplankton samples were collected during two surveys from May 10 to June 13 and from July 19 to August 21 of 2002. In May and June, ice cover exceeded 80% over most of the study area and there was no vertical stratification, indicating that the successional state of the phytoplankton corresponded to the end of the winter biological season. The phytoplankton abundance ranged from a few tens to a few thousands of cells per liter, while biomass varied from 0.1 to 3.0 mg C m⁻³. Small areas of high phytoplankton abundance (0.13–1.3×10⁶ cells L⁻¹) and biomass (22–536 mg C m⁻³), dominated by early spring diatoms Pauliella taeniata and Fragilariopsis oceanica in the surface waters, which indicated the beginning of the spring bloom, were observed only in the southeastern part of the Chukchi shelf and off Point Barrow. In July and August summer period, more than a half of the study area had <50% ice cover and the water column was stratified by temperature and salinity. Over the Chukchi shelf and continental slope of the Beaufort Sea, the phytoplankton abundance and biomass were an order of magnitude higher in July–August than in May–June. The taxonomic diversity of algae also increased due to the appearance of late-spring and summer diatoms, dinoflagellates, and coccolithophorids (Emiliania huxleyi). Interestingly, the seasonal differences between phytoplankton abundance and taxonomic composition in the spring and summer periods varied the least over the Chukchi Sea slope and in the deep-water area of the Arctic Ocean. High algae concentrations in summer were located in the lower layers of the euphotic zone, suggesting that the spring bloom on both the Chukchi shelf and in the western part of the Beaufort Sea occurred in late June/early July. In the spring and summer, the microalgal community was characterized by a high abundance of 4–10 μm flagellates, which exceeded the abundance of all other taxonomic groups. In both seasons studied, phytoplankton reached its maximum abundance within restricted areas in the southern part of the Chukchi Sea southwest of Point Hope, in the northern part of the Chukchi shelf between the 50- and 100-m isobaths, on the shelf northwest of Point Barrow, and over the continental slope in the Beaufort Sea. The pronounced spatial difference in the seasonal state was a characteristic feature of the phytoplankton community in the western Arctic.     

Spatio-temporal distribution of dissolved inorganic carbon and net community production in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas

As part of the 2002 Western Arctic Shelf–Basin Interactions (SBI) project, spatio-temporal variability of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) was employed to determine rates of net community production (NCP) for the Chukchi and western Beaufort Sea shelf and slope, and Canada Basin of the Arctic Ocean. Seasonal and spatial distributions of DIC were characterized for all water masses (e.g., mixed layer, halocline waters, Atlantic layer, and deep Arctic Ocean) of the Chukchi Sea region during field investigations in spring (5 May–15 June 2002) and summer (15 July–25 August 2002). Between these periods, high rates of phytoplankton production resulted in large drawdown of inorganic nutrients and DIC in the Polar Mixed Layer (PML) and in the shallow depths of the Upper Halocline Layer (UHL). The highest rates of NCP (1000–2850 mg C m⁻² d⁻¹) occurred on the shelf in the Barrow Canyon region of the Chukchi Sea and east of Barrow in the western Beaufort Sea. A total NCP rate of 8.9–17.8×10¹² g for the growing season was estimated for the eastern Chukchi Sea shelf and slope region. Very low inorganic nutrient concentrations and low rates of NCP (<15–25 mg C m⁻² d⁻¹) estimated for the mixed layer of the adjacent Arctic Ocean basin indicate that this area is perennially oligotrophic.     

Sea-ice-thickness variability in the Chukchi Sea,spring and summer 2002–2004

Measurements of sea-ice thickness were obtained from drill holes, an ice-based electromagnetic induction instrument (IEM), and a ship-borne electromagnetic induction instrument (SEM) during the early-melt season in the southern Chukchi Sea in 2002 and 2004, and in late summer 2003 at the time of minimum ice extent in the northern Chukchi Sea. An ice roughness criterion was applied to distinguish between level and rough or ridged ice. Ice-thickness modes in the probability density functions (PDFs) derived from drill-hole and IEM measurements agreed well, with modes at 1.5–1.6 and 1.8–1.9 m for all data from level ice. The PDFs derived from SEM measurements show that the primary modes are at 0.1 and 1.1 m in 2003 and 0.7 m in 2004. In 2002 and 2004, significant fractions (between one-third and one-half) of level ice were found to consist of rafted ice segments. Snow depth varied significantly between years, with 2004 data showing more than half the snow cover on level ice to be at or below 0.05 m depth in late spring. Ice growth simulations and examination of ice drift and deformation history indicate that impacts of atmospheric and oceanic warming on level-ice thickness in the region over the past few decades are masked to a large extent by variability in snow depth and the contribution of deformation processes. In comparison with submarine sonar ice-thickness data from previous decades, a reduction in ice thickness by about 0.5–1 m is in part explained by the replacement of multi-year with first-year ice over the Chukchi and Beaufort shelves.     

Sediment transport by sea ice in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas: Increasing importance due to changing ice conditions?

Sediment-laden sea ice is widespread over the shallow, wide Siberian Arctic shelves, with off-shelf export from the Laptev and East Siberian Seas contributing substantially to the Arctic Ocean's sediment budget. By contrast, the North American shelves, owing to their narrow width and greater water depths, have not been deemed as important for basin-wide sediment transport by sea ice. Observations over the Chukchi and Beaufort shelves in 2001/02 revealed the widespread occurrence of sediment-laden ice over an area of more than 100,000 km² between 68 and 74°N and 155 and 170°W. Ice stratigraphic studies indicate that sediment inclusions were associated with entrainment of frazil ice into deformed, multiple layers of rafted nilas, indicative of a flaw-lead environment adjacent to the landfast ice of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. This is corroborated by buoy trajectories and satellite imagery indicating entrainment in a coastal polynya in the eastern Chukchi Sea in February of 2002 as well as formation of sediment-laden ice along the Beaufort Sea coast as far eastward as the Mackenzie shelf. Moored upward-looking sonar on the Mackenzie shelf provides further insight into the ice growth and deformation regime governing sediment entrainment. Analysis of Radarsat Synthetic Aperture (SAR) imagery in conjunction with bathymetric data help constrain the water depth of sediment resuspension and subsequent ice entrainment (>20 m for the Chukchi Sea). Sediment loads averaged at 128 t km^–2, with sediment occurring in layers of roughly 0.5 m thickness, mostly in the lower ice layers. The total amount of sediment transported by sea ice (mostly out of the narrow zone between the landfast ice edge and waters too deep for resuspension and entrainment) is at minimum 4×10⁶ t in the sampling area and is estimated at 5–8×10⁶ t over the entire Chukchi and Beaufort shelves in 2001/02, representing a significant term in the sediment budget of the western Arctic Ocean. Recent changes in the Chukchi and Beaufort Sea ice regimes (reduced summer minimum ice extent, ice thinning, reduction in multi-year ice extent, altered drift paths and mid-winter landfast ice break-out events) have likely resulted in an increase of sediment-laden ice in the area. Apart from contributing substantially to along- and across-shelf particulate flow, an increase in the amount of dirty ice significantly impacts (sub-)ice algal production and may enhance the dispersal of pollutants.     

Observations and modeling of the ice-ocean conditions in the coastal Chukchi and Beaufort Seas

The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas include several important hydrological features： inflow of the Pacific water, Alaska coast current （ ACC ）, the seasonal to perennial sea ice cover, and landfast ice ＇along the Alaskan coast. The dynamics of this coupled ice-ocean system is important for both regional scale oceanography and large-scale global climate change research. A mumber of moorings were deployed in the area by JAMSTEC since 1992, and the data revealed highly variable characteristics of the hydrological environment. A regional high-resolution coupled ice-ocean model of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas was established to simulate the ice-ocean environment and unique seasonal landfast ice in the coastal Beaufort Sea. The model results reproduced the Beaufort gyre and the ACC. The depthaveraged annual mean ocean currents along the Beaufort Sea coast and shelf hreak compared well with data from four moored ADCPs, but the simulated velocity had smaller standard deviations, which indicate small-scale eddies were frequent in the region. The model resuits captured the sea,real variations of sea ice area as compared with remote sensing data, and the simulated sea ice velocity showed an ahnost stationary area along the Beaufort Sea coast that was similar to the observed landfast ice extent. It is the combined effects of the weak oceanic current near the coast, a prevailing wind with an onshore component, the opposite direction of the ocean current, and the blocking hy the coastline that make the Beaufort Sea coastal areas prone to the formation of landfast ice.     

Severe winter weather as a response to the lowest Arctic sea-ice anomalies

Possible impact of reduced Arctic sea-ice on winter severe weather in China is investigated regarding the snowstorm over southern China in January 2008. The sea-ice conditions in the summer （July-September） and fall （September-November） of 2007 show that the sea-ice is the lowest that year. During the summer and fall of 2007, sea ice displayed a significant decrease in the East Siberian, the northern Chukchi Sea, the western Beaufort Sea, the Barents Sea, and the Kara Sea. A ECHAM5.4 atmospheric general circula- tion model is forced with realistic sea-ice conditions and strong thermal responses with warmer surface air temperature and higher-than-normal heat flux associated with the sea-ice anomalies are found. The model shows remote atmospheric responses over East Asia in January 2008, which result in severe snowstorm over southern China. Strong water-vapor transported from the Bay of Bengal and from the Pacific Ocean related to Arctic sea-ice anomalies in the fall （instead of summer） of 2007 is considered as one of the main causes of the snowstorm formation.     

Western Arctic primary productivity regulated by shelf-break warm eddies

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.     

Multi-decadal synthesis of benthic–pelagic coupling in the western arctic: Role of cross-shelf advective processes

Using geographic information systems (GIS) software and geostatistical techniques, we utilized three decades of water-column chlorophyll a data to examine the relative importance of autochthonous versus allochthonous sources of reduced carbon to benthic communities that occur from the northern Bering to the eastern Beaufort Sea shelf. Spatial trend analyses revealed areas of high benthic biomass (>300 g m⁻²) and chlorophyll (>150 mg m⁻²) on both the southern and northern Chukchi shelf; both areas are known as depositional centers for reduced organic matter that originates on the Bering Sea shelf and is advected northward in Anadyr and Bering shelf water masses. We found a significant correlation between biomass and chlorophyll a in the Chukchi Sea, reflective of the strong benthic–pelagic coupling in a system that is utilized heavily by benthic-feeding marine mammals. In contrast, there was no significant correlation between biomass and chlorophyll in the Beaufort Sea, which by comparison, is considerably less productive (biomass and chlorophyll, <75 g m⁻² and <50 mg m⁻², respectively). One notable exception is an area of relatively high biomass (50–100 g m⁻²) and chlorophyll (80 mg m⁻²) near Barter Island in the eastern Beaufort Sea. Compared to other adjacent areas in the Beaufort Sea, the chlorophyll values in the vicinity of Barter Island were considerably higher and likely reflect a long-hypothesized upwelling in that area and close coupling between the benthos and autochthonous production. In the Bering Sea, a drop in benthic biomass in 1994 compared with previous measurements (1974–1993) may support earlier observations that document a decline in biomass that began between the 1980s and 1990s in the Chirikov Basin and south of St. Lawrence Island. The results of this study indicate that the benthos is an excellent long-term indicator of both local and physical advective processes. In addition, this work provides further evidence that secondary production on arctic shelves can be significantly augmented by reduced carbon advected from highly productive adjacent shelves.     

Spring and summer phytoplankton communities in the Chukchi and Eastern Beaufort Seas

Phytoplankton pigments and size-fractionated biomass in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas showed spatial and temporal variation during the spring and summer of 2002. Cluster analysis of pigment ratios revealed different assemblages over the shelf, slope and basin regions. In spring, phytoplankton with particle sizes greater than 5 μm, identified as diatoms and/or haptophytes, dominated over the shelf. Smaller (<5 μm) phytoplankton containing chlorophyll b, most likely prasinophytes, were more abundant over the slope and basin. Due to extensive ice cover at this time, phytoplankton experienced low irradiance, but nutrients were near maximal for the year. By summer, small prasinophytes and larger haptophytes and diatoms co-dominated in near-surface assemblages in largely ice-free waters when nitrate was mostly depleted. Deeper in the water column at 1–15% of the surface irradiance larger sized diatoms were still abundant in the upper nutricline. Phytoplankton from the shelf appeared to be advected through Barrow Canyon to the adjacent basin, explaining similar composition between the two areas in spring and summer. Off-shelf advection was much less pronounced for other slope and basin areas, which are influenced by the low-nutrient Beaufort gyre circulation, leading to a dominance of smaller prasinophytes and chlorophytes. The correlation of large-sized fucoxanthin containing phytoplankton with the higher primary production measurements shows promise for trophic status to be estimated using accessory pigment ratios.     

2013年北极最小海冰范围比2012年增加的原因分析

北极海冰范围从1979年有卫星观测资料以来呈现明显下降趋势,尤其是9月份。2012年9月北极海冰范围达到有观测记录以来的最小值,而2013年9月比2012年同期增加了60%。增加的区域主要在东西伯利亚海区、楚科奇海和波弗特海区。本文应用距平和经验模态分解方法,分析了美国国家冰雪数据中心的北极海冰卫星数据、欧洲预报中心的夏季底层大气环流数据和上层海洋的温度,指出2013年北极最小海冰范围比2012年在北冰洋太平洋扇区增加的原因,是由于表面气温(SAT)降低、海平面气压(SLP)升高、气旋式风场异常、表面空气中水汽含量(SH)降低以及海表面温度(SST)降低5个条件形成的冰-SAT、冰-SST和冰-汽(SH)3个正反馈机制共同作用造成的。     

Transport of plankton and particles between the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas during summer 2002, described using a Video Plankton Recorder

A key goal of the Western Arctic Shelf Basin Interactions program is to understand how physical and biological processes together impact shelf–basin exchange of biological, chemical, and physical properties. High-resolution vertical distributions of plankton and particles were obtained using an Auto Video Plankton Recorder from 29 locations on the Chukchi Shelf, in the deep Beaufort Sea, and across the Beaufort–Chukchi Shelf-break during a cruise on the USCGC Healy in July–August, 2002. Coincident velocity estimates were collected using hull-mounted acoustic Doppler current profilers. Images of plankton and particles were extracted automatically and identified manually to taxa and type. Copepods, diatom chains, decaying diatoms, marine snow, and radiolarians were the most abundant categories observed. Distinct regional differences in abundance were observed that were associated with different oceanographic regimes and with the prevailing circulation in the region. Vertical distributions were closely associated with the physical structure of the water column. A sharp horizontal discontinuity in abundance of all categories between shelf and basin was observed, located over the shelf break and potentially established and maintained by transport of plankton and particles along-shelf to the east rather than northwards towards the basin. Barrow Canyon and the shelf and shelf-break east of Barrow Canyon had very high concentrations of plankton and particles, especially marine snow, that may have resulted from elevated production on the eastern Chukchi Shelf that subsequently was advected out of Barrow Canyon and to the east. Comparisons of downward flux, estimated from particle sinking rates based on individual marine snow particle size, and horizontal velocities suggested that much of the marine snow carbon was sinking to the benthos of the Chukchi Sea prior to being advected off-shelf. Velocities and plankton concentrations together indicated that little off-shelf flux of plankton or particles to the basin was occurring except in an eddy located off of the Beaufort Shelf.     

Microzooplankton grazing impact in the Western Arctic Ocean

Microzooplankton grazing impact on phytoplankton was assessed using the Landry–Hassett dilution technique in the Western Arctic Ocean during spring and summer 2002 and 2004. Forty experiments were completed in a region encompassing productive shelf regions of the Chukchi Sea, mesotrophic slope regions of the Beaufort Sea off the North Slope of Alaska, and oligotrophic deep-water sites in the Canada Basin. A variety of conditions were encountered, from heavy sea-ice cover during both spring cruises, moderate sea-ice cover during summer of 2002, and light to no sea ice during summer of 2004, with a concomitant range of trophic conditions, from low chlorophyll-a (Chl-a; <0.5 μg L⁻¹) during heavy ice cover in spring and in the open basin, to late spring and summer shelf and slope open-water diatom blooms with Chl-a >5 μg L⁻¹. The microzooplankton community was dominated by large naked ciliates and heterotrophic gymnodinoid dinoflagellates. Significant, but low, rates of microzooplankton herbivory were found in half of the experiments. The maximum grazing rate was 0.16 d⁻¹ and average grazing rate, including experiments with no significant grazing, was 0.04±0.06 d⁻¹. Phytoplankton intrinsic growth rates varied from the highest values of about 0.4 d⁻¹ to the lowest values of zero to slightly negative growth, on average 0.16±0.15 d⁻¹. Light limitation in spring and post-bloom senescence during summer were likely explanations of observed low phytoplankton growth rates. Microzooplankton grazing consumed 0–120% (average 22±26%) of phytoplankton daily growth. Grazing and growth rates found in this study were low compared to rates reported in another Arctic system, the Barents Sea, and in major geographic regions of the world ocean.     

Ocean circulation and exchanges through the northern Bering Sea—1979–2001 model results

We have developed and run a model with sufficiently high resolution (9 km and 45 levels) and a large enough spatial domain to allow for realistic representation of flow through the narrow and shallow straits in the northern Bering Sea. This is potentially important for quantification of long-term mean and time-dependent ocean circulation, and water mass and property exchanges between the Pacific and Arctic Oceans. Over a 23 year interval (1979–2001), mean transport through Bering Strait is estimated to be 0.65 Sv. Comparison of our model results with published observations indicates that ocean circulation is not only variable at seasonal to interdecadal scales but it is also responsive to short-term atmospheric forcing. One of such events occurred during the winter of 2000–2001 with reversed oceanic flow in some areas and much reduced sea-ice cover. Analyses of eddy kinetic energy fields identify some high biological productivity regions of the Chirikov Basin coincident with persistent high energy (up to 2700 cm² s⁻² in the surface layer and up to 2600 cm² s⁻² at mid-depth) throughout the annual cycle. Model output in the Bering Strait region is validated against several time series of moored observations of water mass properties. Comparison with shipboard observations of near-bottom salinity from late winter through autumn indicates that the model reasonably represents the major water-mass properties in the region. The modeled vertical water-column structure in the northern Bering Sea allows increased understanding of the mechanisms of water transformation and transport northward through Bering Strait into the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. We conclude that the long-term model results for the northern Bering Sea provide important insights into the ocean circulation and fluxes and they are a useful frame of reference for limited observations that are short-term and/or cover only a small geographic region.     

Improved Chlorophyll-a Algorithm for the Satellite Ocean Color Data in the Northern Bering Sea and Southern Chukchi Sea

The Bering and Chukchi seas are an important conduit to the Arctic Ocean and are reported to be one of the most productive regions in the world’s oceans in terms of high primary productivity that sustains large numbers of fishes, marine mammals, and sea birds as well as benthic animals. Climate-induced changes in primary production and production at higher trophic levels also have been observed in the northern Bering and Chukchi seas. Satellite ocean color observations could enable the monitoring of relatively long term patterns in chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentrations that would serve as an indicator of phytoplankton biomass. The performance of existing global and regional Chl-a algorithms for satellite ocean color data was investigated in the northeastern Bering Sea and southern Chukchi Sea using in situ optical measurements from the Healy 2007 cruise. The model-derived Chl-a data using the previous Chl-a algorithms present striking uncertainties regarding Chl-a concentrations – for example, overestimation in lower Chl-a concentrations or systematic overestimation in the northeastern Bering Sea and southern Chukchi Sea. Accordingly, a simple two band ratio (R_rs(443)/R_rs(555)) algorithm of Chl-a for the satellite ocean color data was devised for the northeastern Bering Sea and southern Chukchi Sea. The MODIS-derived Chl-a data from July 2002 to December 2014 were produced using the new Chl-a algorithm to investigate the seasonal and interannual variations of Chl-a in the northern Bering Sea and the southern Chukchi Sea. The seasonal distribution of Chl-a shows that the highest (spring bloom) Chl-a concentrations are in May and the lowest are in July in the overall area. Chl-a concentrations relatively decreased in June, particularly in the open ocean waters of the Bering Sea. The Chl-a concentrations start to increase again in August and become quite high in September. In October, Chl-a concentrations decreased in the western area of the Study area and the Alaskan coastal waters. Strong interannual variations are shown in Chl-a concentrations in all areas. There is a slightly increasing trend in Chl-a concentrations in the northern Bering Strait (SECS). This increasing trend may be related to recent increases in the extent and duration of open waters due to the early break up of sea ice and the late formation of sea ice in the Chukchi Sea.     

Phytoplankton community in the Western Arctic in July–August 2003

The phytoplankton community was studied in Bering Strait and over the shelf, continental slope, and deep-water zones of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas in the middle of the vegetative season (July–August 2003). Its structure was analyzed in relation to ice conditions and the seasonal patterns of water warming, stratification, and nutrient concentrations. The overall ranges of variation in phytoplankton abundance and biomass were estimated at 2.0 × 10² to 6.0 × 10⁶ cells/l and 0.1 to 444.1 mg C/m³. The bulk of phytoplankton cells concentrated in the seasonal picnocline, at depths of 10–25 m. The highest values of cell density and biomass were recorded in regions influenced by the inflow of Bering Sea waters or characterized by intense hydrodynamics, such as the Bering Strait, Barrow Canyon, and the outer shelf and slope of the Chukchi Sea. In the middle of the vegetative season, the phytoplankton in the study region of the Western Arctic proved to comprise three successional (seasonal) assemblages, namely, the early spring, late spring, and summer assemblages. Their spatial distribution was dependent mainly on local features of hydrological and nutrient regimes rather than on general latitudinal trends of seasonal succession characteristic of arctic ecosystems.     

Seasonal and spatial distribution of particulate organic matter (POM) in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas

As part of the Western Arctic Shelf–Basin Interactions (SBI) project, the production and fate of organic carbon and nitrogen from the Chukchi and Beaufort Sea shelves were investigated during spring (5 May–15 June) and summer (15 July–25 August) cruises in 2002. Seasonal observations of suspended particulate organic carbon (POC) and nitrogen (PON) and large-particle (>53 μm) size class suggest that there was a large accumulation of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) between spring and summer in the surface mixed layer due to high phytoplankton productivity. Considerable organic matter appeared to be transported from the shelf into the Arctic Ocean basin in an elevated POC and PON layer at the top of the upper halocline. Seasonal changes in the molar carbon:nitrogen (C:N) ratio of the suspended particulate organic matter (POM) pool reflect a change in the quality of the organic material that was present and presumably being exported to the sediment and to Arctic Ocean waters adjacent to the Chukchi and Beaufort Sea shelves. In spring, low particulate C:N ratios (<6; i.e., N rich) were observed in nitrate-replete surface waters. By the summer, localized high particulate C:N ratios (>9; i.e., N-poor) were observed in nitrate-depleted surface waters. Low POC and inorganic nutrient concentrations observed in the surface layer suggest that rates of primary, new and export production are low in the Canada Basin region of the Arctic Ocean.     

Improved sea-ice radiative processes in a global coupled climate model

1Introduction Seaiceplaysanimportantroleinmoderating heatandmoistureexchangesbetweentheatmosphere andtheoceanathighlatitudes.Seaicealsointeracts withthebroaderclimatesystembythepositiveice albedofeedback(Curryetal.,1995),whichamplifies projectedclimatewarmingatthehighlatitudes,andby theoceanicfeedbackinvolvingicegrowthandmelt, whichinfluencesglobalthermohalinecirculation(i.e., theNorthAtlanticDeepWaterandtheAntarcticBot- tomWater)(Walsh,1983;Barryetal.,1993). Recently,theimplementationofas…     

1979-2012年北极海冰运动学特征初步分析

利用美国冰雪数据中心(NSIDC)发布的海冰速度和范围数据,本文分析了1979—2012年间北极海冰的运动学特征,以及北极海冰运动与分布范围演变之间的关系。结合欧洲中期天气预报中心(ECMWF)发布的2007和2012年高分辨率的气压场、风场数据,探讨了北极风场和气压场与海冰运动、辐散辐合和海冰面积的关系。结果表明,在1979-2012年间北极海冰平均运动速度呈显著增强的趋势,冬季海冰平均运动速度增加趋势明显强于夏季;北极、波弗特-楚科奇海域和弗拉姆海峡的冬、夏季海冰平均运动速度的增加率分别为2.1%/a和1.7%/a、2.0%/a和1.6%/a以及4.9%/a和2.2%/a。1979-2012年北极海冰平均运动速度和范围的相关性为-0.77,二者存在显著的负相关关系。北极冬季和夏季风场的长期变化趋势与海冰平均运动速度的变化趋势一致,冬季和夏季的相关系数分别为0.50和0.48。风场和气压场对海冰的运动、辐散及重新分布发挥着重要作用。2007年夏季,第234~273天波弗特海域一直被高压系统控制,波弗特涡旋加强,使得波弗特海域海冰聚集在北极中央区;顺时针的风场促使海冰向格陵兰岛和加拿大北极群岛以北聚合。2012年,白令海峡和楚科奇海域处于低压和高压系统的交界处,盛行偏北风,海冰从北极东部往西部输运,加拿大海盆的多年海冰因离岸运动而辐散,向楚科奇海域的海冰输运增加,受太平洋入流暖水影响,移入此区域的海冰加速融化,从而加剧海冰的减少。