Variability in oceanographic and ecological processes in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago

This paper brings together unpublished historical data sets and published literature to review the role of climatic, oceanographic and ecological processes in the marine ecosystem of the eastern Canadian Archipelago. Physical data include characteristics of the water masses, circulation patterns, sea ice conditions, and climatic records from 1950s onward. Biological data include unpublished data sets on nutrients, primary and secondary production, and sedimentation, which were collected during the 1980–1990s in the eastern Canadian Archipelago. These results show high year-to-year variability in nutrient inventories and ratios, the magnitude of the ice algae and phytoplankton bloom, the timing of ice algae sedimentation in the spring, and the composition of the zooplankton community. The significance of this high interannual variability and its effect on pelagic–benthic coupling processes is discussed in the context of climatic and oceanographic forcing, with emphasis on recent (past decade) Arctic changes. An estimate of total primary production in the Archipelago is also presented, along with published production estimates for other Arctic shelves, showing that the Archipelago may support up to 32% of the total primary production of Arctic shelves. The high year-to-year variability in production and carbon transfer pathways (e.g. pelagic versus benthic) in the Archipelago suggest that the system might be resilient to the increased variability in climatic conditions occurring in the past decade. However, this increased variability combined with directional change in climatic and oceanographic conditions might also modify the existing balance of ecological processes. For example, shifts in the timing of events appear to have already occurred in the past decade, with potential cascading effects throughout the ecosystem.     

Field measurements and monitoring of wastewater discharge in sea water

This paper reports a study of the field measurements and monitoring of wastewater discharge in sea water at Bari East (Italy). A wastewater sea outfall system is an integral and fundamental part of each wastewater treatment with ultimate sink in the sea water. The design of a water treatment plant and wastewater outfall must take into account the use of the environmental water, the values of physicochemical parameters to be respected in order to safeguard the use itself and the quality of the environmental water where wastewater is issued. In the present study measurements of sea current velocity components were carried out with a VM-ADP (Vessel-Mounted Acoustic Doppler Profiler). Salinity, wind directions and velocities were assessed with, for one survey, the total faecal coliforms and other biochemical parameters. It was emphasized that the measurements necessary for monitoring cannot be concentrated in the wastewater outfall pipe zone only, but should be extended to a neighbouring area of the outfall pipe, with an extension depending on the wastewater discharge, the polluting charge and the magnitude of the sea currents and the winds typical of the zone of interest. The analyses presented in this paper confirm that the sea zones close to the wastewater outfall pipe are particularly sensitive and vulnerable. Such results must be considered in the planning of a wastewater outfall pipe.     

Wintertime nutrients in the North Atlantic—new approaches and implications for new production estimates

Observations of wintertime nutrient concentrations in surface waters are scarce in the temperate and subarctic North Atlantic Ocean. Three new methods of their estimation from spring or early summer observations are described and evaluated. The methods make use of a priori knowledge of the vertical distribution of oxygen saturation and empirical relationships between nutrient concentrations and oxygen saturation. A south–north increase in surface water winter nutrient concentration is observed. Winter nitrate concentrations range from very low levels of about 0.5 μmol dm⁻³ at 33°N to about 13.5 μmol dm⁻³ at 60°N. Previous estimates of winter nitrate concentrations have been overestimates by up to 50%. At the Biotrans Site (47°N, 20°W), a typical station in the temperate Northeast Atlantic, a mean winter nitrate concentration of 8 μmol dm⁻³ is estimated, compared to recently published values between 11 and 12.5 μmol dm⁻³. It is shown that most of the difference is due to a contribution of remineralised nitrate that had not been recognized in previous winter nutrient estimates. Mesoscale variation of wintertime nitrate concentrations at Biotrans are moderate (less than ±15% of the regional mean value of about 8 μmol dm⁻³). Interannual variation of the regional mean is small, too. In the available dataset, there was only 1 year with a significantly lower regional mean winter nitrate concentration (7 μmol dm⁻³), presumably due to restricted deep mixing during an atypically warm winter. The significance of winter nitrate estimates for the assessment of spring-bloom new production and the interpretation of bloom dynamics is evaluated. Applying estimates of wintertime nitrate concentrations of this study, it is found that pre-bloom new production (0.275 mol N m⁻²) at Biotrans almost equals spring-bloom new production (0.3 mol N m⁻²). Using previous estimates of wintertime nitrate yields unrealistically high estimates of pre-bloom new production (1.21–1.79 mol N m⁻²) which are inconsistent with observed levels of primary production and the seasonal development of biomass.     

Long-term changes in the fish community structure from the Tsushima warm current region of the Japan/East Sea with an emphasis on the impacts of fishing and climate regime shift over the last four decades

Japanese fisheries production in the Japan/East Sea between 1958 and 2003 increased to their peak (1.76 million tons) in the late 1980s and decreased abruptly with the collapse of Japanese sardine. Catch results for 58 fisheries and various environmental time-series data sets and community indices, including mean trophic level (MTL) and Simpson’s diversity index (DI), were used to investigate the impacts of fishing and climate changes on the structure of the fish community in the Tsushima warm current (TWC) region of the Japan/East Sea. The long-term trend in fisheries production was largely dependent on the Japanese sardine that, as a single species, contributed up to 60% of the total production in the Japanese waters of the Japan/East Sea during the late 1980s. Excluding Japanese sardine, production of the small pelagic species was higher during 1960s and 1990s but lower during 1970s and 1980s. This variation pattern generally corresponds with the trend in water temperature, warmer before early 1960s and after 1990s but colder during 1970s and 1980s. The warm-water, large predatory fishes and cold water demersal species show opposite responses to the water temperature in the TWC region, indicating the significant impact of oceanic conditions on fisheries production of the Japan/East Sea. Declines in demersal fishes and invertebrates during 1970s and 1980s suggested some impact of fishing. MTL and DI show a similar variation pattern: higher during 1960s and 1990s but lower during 1970s and 1980s. In particular, the sharp decline during the 1980s resulted from the abundant sardine catches, suggesting that dominant species have a large effect on the structure of the fish community in the Japan/East Sea. Principal component analysis for 58 time-series data sets of fisheries catches suggested that the fish community varied on inter-annual to inter-decadal scales; the abrupt changes that occurred in the mid-1970s and late 1980s seemed to correspond closely with the climatic regime shifts in the North Pacific. These results strongly suggest that the structure of the fish community in the Japan/East Sea was largely affected by climatic and oceanic regime shifts rather than by fishing. There is no evidence showing “fishing down food webs” in the Japan/East Sea. However, in addition to the impacts of abrupt shifts that occurred in the late 1980s, the large predatory and demersal fishes seem to be facing stronger fishing pressure with the collapse of the Japanese sardine.     

Effects of variable winds on biological productivity on continental shelves in coastal upwelling systems

The production and distribution of biological material in wind-driven coastal upwelling systems are of global importance, yet they remain poorly understood. Production is frequently presumed to be proportional to upwelling rate, yet high winds can lead to advective losses from continental shelves, where many species at higher trophic levels reside. An idealized mixed-layer conveyor (MLC) model of biological production from constant upwelling winds demonstrated previously that the amount of new production available to shelf species increased with upwelling at low winds, but declined at high winds [Botsford, L.W., Lawrence, C.A., Dever, E.P., Hastings, A., Largier, J., 2003. Wind strength and biological productivity in upwelling systems: an idealized study. Fisheries Oceanography 12, 245–259]. Here we analyze the response of this model to time-varying winds for parameter values and observed winds from the Wind Events and Shelf Transport (WEST) study region. We compare this response to the conventional view that the results of upwelling are proportional to upwelled volume. Most new production per volume upwelled available to shelf species occurs following rapid increases in shelf transit time due to decreases in wind (i.e. relaxations). However, on synoptic, event time-scales shelf production is positively correlated with upwelling rate. This is primarily due to the effect of synchronous periods of low values in these time series, paradoxically due to wind relaxations. On inter-annual time-scales, computing model production from wind forcing from 20 previous years shows that these synchronous periods of low values have little effect on correlations between upwelling and production. Comparison of model production from 20 years of wind data over a range of shelf widths shows that upwelling rate will predict biological production well only in locations where cross-shelf transit times are greater than the time required for phytoplankton or zooplankton production. For stronger mean winds (narrower shelves), annual production falls below the peak of constant wind prediction [Botsford et al., 2003. Wind strength and biological productivity in upwelling systems: an idealized study. Fisheries Oceanography 12, 245–259], then as winds increase further (shelves become narrower) production does not decline as steeply as the constant wind prediction.     

Beneath the surface: Characteristics of oceanic ecosystems under weak mixing conditions – A theoretical investigation

This study considers an important biome in aquatic environments, the subsurface ecosystem that evolves under low mixing conditions, from a theoretical point of view. Employing a conceptual model that involves phytoplankton, a limiting nutrient and sinking detritus, we use a set of key characteristics (thickness, depth, biomass amplitude/productivity) to qualitatively and quantitatively describe subsurface biomass maximum layers (SBMLs) of phytoplankton. These SBMLs are defined by the existence of two community compensation depths in the water column, which confine the layer of net community production; their depth coincides with the upper nutricline. Analysing the results of a large ensemble of simulations with a one-dimensional numerical model, we explore the parameter dependencies to obtain fundamental steady-state relationships that connect primary production, mortality and grazing, remineralization, vertical diffusion and detrital sinking. As a main result, we find that we can distinguish between factors that determine the vertically integrated primary production and others that affect only depth and shape (thickness and biomass amplitude) of this subsurface production layer. A simple relationship is derived analytically, which can be used to estimate the steady-state primary productivity in the subsurface oligotrophic ocean. The fundamental nature of the results provides further insight into the dynamics of these “hidden” ecosystems and their role in marine nutrient cycling.     

Size-Fractionated Primary Production Estimated by a Two-Phytoplankton Community Model Applicable to Ocean Color Remote Sensing

In order to estimate primary production from ocean color satellite data using the Vertical Generalized Production Model (VGPM; Behrenfeld and Falkowski, 1997), we propose a two-phytoplankton community model. This model is based on the two assumptions that changes in chlorophyll concentration result from changes of large-sized phytoplankton abundance, and chlorophyll specific productivity of phytoplankton tends to be inversely proportional to phytoplankton size. Based on the analysis of primary production data, P _opt ^B , which was one parameter in the VGPM, was modeled as a function of sea surface temperature and sea surface chlorophyll concentration. The two-phytoplankton community model incorporated into the VGPM gave good estimates in a relatively high productive area. Size-fractionated primary production was estimated by the two-phytoplankton community model, and P _opt ^B of small-sized phytoplankton was 4.5 times that of large-sized phytoplankton. This result fell into the ranges observed during field studies.