Abstracts
SEARCH Open Science Meeting
October 27, 2003
Seattle, Washington, USA
Modelling Ice Algae Growth and Decay in Seasonally Ice-covered Regions of the Arctic Ocean
Diane Lavoie1, Ken Denman2
1School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, PO Box 3055, Victoria, BC, V8W 3P6, Canada, Phone 250-472-4014, Fax 250-472-4030, lavoied@uvic.ca
2Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis, University of Victoria, PO Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria, BC, V8W 2Y2, Canada, Phone 250-363-8230, Fax 250-363-8247, ken.denman@ec.gc.ca
Although ice algae are estimated to represent less than 25% of the total primary production in the Arctic Ocean they would be exported to depth more efficiently than pelagic phytoplankton. The timing of ice algae export from the surface layer, which lowers the CO2 partial pressure of the ocean's surface, would also be important since it occurs just before the melting of the ice cover, thus reducing or suppressing CO2 outgassing when the ocean's surface is first exposed to the atmosphere.
The importance of ice algae for carbon cycling could also increase with climate change since their abundance is higher in first-year ice, the extent of which could increase with the predicted decrease in multi-year ice. Snow thickness appears to control the onset and decline of the ice algae bloom through its control on the amount of solar radiation that reaches the algae. On the other hand, the rate of ice growth at the ice bottom plays an important role on the ice skeletal layer structure, where ice algae are found. We here explore the effects of these physical forcings on the onset, variability, and decline of an ice algae bloom, using a coupled snow-ice-ice algae model. The latter is part of a more complete ice-ocean-ecosystem model that will be used to study carbon cycling on Arctic Ocean shelves, the relative importance of the solubility and biological pumps, and how these processes could be affected by climate change.
Abstract Categories: Changes in the Sea, Student Poster
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