Collaborative Research: Transports and Transformations of Carbon and Nitrogen in the Western Arctic Ocean: A Contribution to the SBI Project

Bermuda Institute Of Ocean Sciences (Bios), Inc., St. George'S

Investigators

Abstract

This project contributes to Western Arctic Shelf-Basin Interactions (SBI) by focussing on a) biogeochemical modifications of Pacific water over the Beaufort and Chukchi shelf and slope regions, with emphasis on carbon and nitrogen; and b) comparative analysis of the findings over the broad Chukchi shelf and narrow Beaufort shelf and adjacent slopes to facilitate integration of the Western Arctic into a Pan-Arctic perspective. The project will evaluate the processes of carbon and nitrogen transport, exchanges and transformations in the regions of interest. Specific objectives are: a) determination of mass transport and fate of carbon and nitrogen associated with the volume transports calculated by SBI collaborators; b) interpretation of carbon and nitrogen spatial distributions and temporal variability relative to biological and physical conditions; c) evaluation of partitioning of organic matter between dissolved and particulate phases; d) determination of net community production and it's fate; e) determination of C:N stoichiometry as a complement to biological studies, particularly in relation to community structure and seasonal progression of intense phytoplankton blooms in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas; and f) evaluation of the contribution of dissolved and particulate organic material to apparent oxygen utilization development in the Arctic halocline and export from the shelf.