Abstracts
SEARCH Open Science Meeting
October 27, 2003
Seattle, Washington, USA
Advection of Carbon on the Western Arctic Shelf: Implications for Benthic-Pelagic Coupling
Kenneth H. Dunton1
1Marine Science Institute, University of Texas at Austin, 750 Channel View Drive, Port Aransas, TX, 78373, USA, Phone 361-749-6744, Fax 361-749-6777, dunton@utmsi.utexas.edu
Our recent work addresses the linkages between benthic community structure and biomass in the western Arctic to associated physical and biological processes. Patterns in benthic biomass reveal distinguishing features that are related to the northward flow of organically-rich waters that pass through the Bering Strait and then split with part of the water flowing northwest to the East Siberian Sea and the other part moving northeast through Barrow Canyon and to the Beaufort Sea. Evidence for the importance of rich Bering Sea waters on the Arctic Shelf is provided by carbon and nitrogen stable isotope signatures to trace carbon advected onto adjacent shelves and as indicators of trophic links between pelagic and benthic components of the shelf and slope. Our preliminary δ 13C measurements of POM reveal that δ 13C values are 2-5 ‰ lower (more negative) in late summer compared to spring, especially over the shelf and basin. Based on these results and the isotopic values of ice algae, we estimate that ice algal carbon potentially contributes up to 25% of the POC pool over the Chukchi Shelf during the spring bloom.
Overall, benthic organisms become more 13C depleted between the Chukchi Sea and western Beaufort, while 15N ratios remain relatively constant. These data support the hypothesis that carbon advected northeastward along the Alaskan arctic coast is assimilated by benthic consumers, but its relative importance begins to decline east of Point Barrow. We plan to better define the significance of carbon advected northward onto adjacent arctic shelves through the additional collection of POM and zooplankton along the Chukchi and Beaufort Sea coasts in summer 2003.
Abstract Categories: Coastal Processes
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