Abstracts

SEARCH Open Science Meeting

October 27, 2003
Seattle, Washington, USA

Progress Towards Understanding Shelf-basin Interactions: Seasonal Variability in the Oxygen Isotope Composition of Arctic Waters in Conjunction With Other Tracers

Lee W. Cooper1, Ron Benner2, Louis A. Codispoti3, Vincent Kelly4, James McClelland5, Bruce J. Peterson6, Robert Holmes7, Jacqueline M Grebmeier8
1Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, 10515 Research Drive, Suite 100, Knoxville , TN, 37932, USA, Phone 865-974-2990, Fax 865-974-7896, lcooper1@utk.edu
2Biological Sciences and Marine Science Program, University of South Carolina, 712 Main St, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA, Phone 803-777-9561, Fax 803-777-4002, benner@biol.sc.edu
3University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, 2020 Horns Point Road, Cambridge, MD, 21613-0775, USA, Phone 410-221-8479, Fax 410-221-8490, codispot@hpl.umces.edu
4University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, 2020 Horns Point Road, Cambridge, MD, 21613-0775, USA, Phone 410-221-8206, Fax 410-221-8490, vkelly@hpl.umces.edu
5Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA, Phone 508-289-7742, Fax 508-457-1548, jmcclelland@mbl.edu
6Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA, Phone 508-289-7484, Fax 508-457-1548, peterson@mbl.edu
7Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA, Phone 508-289-7772, Fax 508-457-1548, rholmes@mbl.edu
8Ecology and Evolutionary Biology , University of Tennessee, 10515 Research Drive , Suite 100, Knoxville , TN, 37932, USA, Phone 865-974-2592, Fax 865-974-7896, jgrebmei@utk.edu

The use of stable oxygen isotope variations in Arctic water masses to study temporal mixing processes in surface waters is incompletely resolved because there has been only limited sampling outside of summer. We report here the results of several research sampling programs that are providing data on the isotopic composition of Arctic rivers (PARTNERS), shelf and deep basin regions of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas (SBI), and flow through the northern Bering Sea and Bering Strait in late winter (Bering Strait Environmental Observatory). Combining these isotope ratio data with other variables, including terrestrial markers, nutrients, salinity, and denitrification indicators provides new insights on the timing and mechanisms of shelf-basin interaction.

Among our observations include runoff-influenced waters that remain geographically separated over-winter from well-mixed, brine-influenced shelf and slope waters over the deep Canada Basin. These offshore waters have an apparently different source for persistent lignin in runoff components than waters directly flowing through Bering Strait in the summer.

Also observed were subsurface ventilation events as brine-injected shelf waters flowed down Barrow Canyon while in the center of Bering Strait, an increasing sea ice melt signal was advected through Bering Strait in April 2003 as ice melt commenced to the south. These observations of seasonally variable water mixing process should help inform the SEARCH research planning and provide insights for resolving temporal components of change within the Arctic system.

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