Paul Wassmann

Department of Arctic and Marine Biology

UiT The Arctic University of Norway

paul.wassmann@uit.no

Tromso

Paul Wassmann has for the most worked out of the Arctic University of Norway in northern Norway, Tromsø. Through more than 30 research cruises Wassmann has investigated the seasonal and marginal ice zone of the central and northern Barents Sea, Svalbard fjords, on the continental shelf north of Svalbard and the slope to the Arctic Ocean. Simultaneously Wassmann has been working with pelagic-benthic coupling in all European seas. To his breakthrough science belong studies of marginal ice zone blooms, pelagic-benthic coupling, including vertical flux regulation by zooplankton grazing and fecal pellet production/destruction. He has further developed conceptual models for system ecology comprehension of the Arctic Ocean. In particular he has contributed to the development of ecosystem models for physical-biological coupled models, including the impact of climate warming on the productivity and ecology of the future Arctic Ocean. He investigated the contiguous advective domains, ecological footprints of climate change and tipping points of future marine Arctic Ocean ecosystems. He also launched estimates of the physical constrains and productivity in the future Arctic Ocean, with the first estimates on present and future distribution of primary production of the entire Arctic Ocean.