Special Session at ASLO/TOS 2004 Ocean Research Conference:
Food web dynamics and C flux in an era of climate variability: a
pan-Arctic perspective
15-20 February 2004
Honolulu, Hawaii
For more information please see:
http://aslo.org/honolulu2004/
Abstract Deadline: 1 October 2003
Call for Abstracts
Note- To submit an abstract for this session please mark the abstract
clearly with the title "Food web dynamics and C flux in an era of
climate variability: a pan-Arctic perspective"
Food web dynamics and C flux in an era of climate variability: a
pan-Arctic perspective
Wassmann, P., Carmack, E., Grebmeier, J.
Scenarios of future climatic development, in essence based upon global
circulation models, predict significant warming in the Arctic. Changes
in the extent of the marginal ice zone (MIZ) and ice thickness will
result in significant alterations of food web dynamics and the C pump.
In the present MIZ, which will widen significantly due to the extensive
retreat of summer ice, global warming will likely give rise to increased
primary production and significantly more biogenic matter will be
supplied to the benthos on the vast pan-arctic shelf seas. How these
changes will influence the shelf-basin exchange of biogenic matter is
still an open question. From these concerns, we pose two comprehensive
questions:
(1) What are the food webs dynamics and the C flux in the various shelf
regions of the pan-Arctic region? (2) How will the distinct changes in
extension and duration of the ice cover affect the dissolution and
biological C pump on the shelves fringing the Polar Ocean? (3) How does
the physical environment "work" to produce and concentrate food, and how
will such mechanisms be altered under scenarios of climate variability?
To address these questions we invite contributions focussing on the
physical oceanography, ice cover, primary production, pelagic food web
dynamics, pelagic-benthic coupling and benthic mineralization in the MIZ
of shelf regions of the pan-Arctic region, with the aim to contribute to
a pan-Arctic understanding of C cycling and climate change.