COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Shelf-Basin Exchange of Biogenic Material Between the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA

Investigators

Abstract

Transfer of organic material and organisms from Arctic shelves to the deep Arctic basin may impact significantly the biogeochemical characteristics, and ecosystem function and structure, of both Arctic basin and the Arctic shelf ecosystems. However, the physical and biological processes influencing both the distribution of organisms and biological material on the Arctic shelves and the potential input of these materials into the Arctic Ocean and basin presently are poorly understood. It is critical to increase understanding of the biological-physical coupling in the shelf-slope region in order to better predict the potential impact of large-scale changes in climate on the Arctic ecosystem. The project will describe the role of mesoscale physical processes in the exchange or transport of biogenic material and plankton populations between the Chukchi Shelf and neighboring Beaufort Sea as part of the Shelf Basin Interactions Phase II field program (SBI). The proposed research has two distinct yet interrelated components: 1) description of the abundance, taxonomic and size composition of plankton and particles and aspects of behavior of plankton in physical features at two locations along the Beaufort/Chukchi shelf break during two July-August process cruises (2002 and 2004) using a Video Plankton Recorder, 2) a description of the abundance of zooplankton on the outer shelf and upper slope and the mesoscale physical features that exchange water and biogenic materials between the two regions over two annual cycles using the absolute backscatter intensity data from an array of fourteen moored calibrated acoustic Doppler current profilers.