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October 27, 2003
Seattle, Washington, USA

Climate Impact on the Barents Sea Ecosystem

Harald Loeng¹, Geir Ottersen^2
1Department of Marine Environment, Institute of Marine Research, P.O. Box 1870 Nordnes, Bergen, 5817, Norway, Phone +47-5523-8466, Fax +47-5523-8584, harald.loeng@imr.no
²Institute of Marine Research, P.O. Box 1870 Nordnes, Bergen, 5817, Norway

Physical factors that make arctic marine ecosystems unique are a very high proportion of shallow continental shelves, dramatic seasonal change, generally low insolation, low temperature, extensive permanent and seasonal ice-cover, and a large supply of freshwater from rivers and melting ice. Because of these conditions, many of which are challenging for marine biota, arctic marine ecosystems have a large number of specialists, many of which are not found elsewhere. These organisms have through time been able to adapt to the arctic environment, they are still challenged by extreme inter-annual variations. A large legacy from past data collection in combination with present-day modeling shows that climate variability can influence population parameters of marine organisms. Without doubt, water temperature has impact on species composition in different areas, and recruitment, growth, distribution and migration of different fish species. Most of the relationships between temperature and population variables, however, are qualitative; thus few relationships have been quantified.

Although the AO is defined circumpolarly and the NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) only for the North Atlantic region, the two are highly correlated. The NAO may be regarded as the North Atlantic branch of the AO. In this presentation the role of the NAO/AO in determining the ocean climate and ecology of the Barents Sea will be explored. Fish recruitment seems to be closely linked to climate variability and feeding distribution of cod, haddock and capelin depend on the climatic conditions with more easterly and northerly distributions noted in warm years than in cold ones. The growth of fish also seems to depend on the environmental temperature, but the temperature growth relationship is probably not simple. The climatic fluctuations also influence the plankton production and thereby the food conditions for all plankton feeders. Temperature effects linked to the variability of food may therefore be as important as the direct effect of temperature on the biological conditions of fish.

Abstract Categories: Changes in the Sea

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