Current Primary Production Rates Of The Western Arctic Ocean Estimated By Stable Carbon And Nitrogen Isotope Tracers

Abstract

Currently, the environments in the Arctic are rapidly changing. These changes of climate and ice conditions may alter the quantity, quality, and timing of production of ice algae and phytoplankton in the Arctic Ocean. The objectives in this study were to detect any change in the carbon production between current and previous studies and lay the groundwork for the future monitoring of ecosystem response to climate change in the different regions of the western Arctic Ocean. As an Arctic ocean mostly covered by multi or first-year ice, the deep Canada Basin had generally low photosynthetic rates and the maximum rates were found between 50 and 60 m in the basin. Based on the percentage of ice cover, the annual production ranged from 3 to 7.5 g C m-2 Z in the basin. Nutrients appear to be a main limiting factor at surface, whereas the phytoplankton activity might be limited by the low light in the Chl a-max layer. At the surface below the ice, photosynthetic activity might be controlled by both low light and nutrients. Studies of ice algae and phytoplankton at the first-year sea ice of Barrow in Alaska showed that bottom sea ice algae and phytoplankton are limited mainly by light. Therefore, the current downward trend of sea ice thickness and extent in Arctic Oceans might cause an increase in primary production or/and change in timing of the production. In addition, the composition in macromolecules of primary producers might be changed under the current ice conditions and thus nutritional status of higher trophic levels might be altered. As shallow shelf regions, Bering Strait/Chukchi Sea showed that the range of nitrate in the central Chukchi Sea was rather higher whereas the biomass of phytoplankton was lower in this study than in previous studies. Consistently, the mean carbon and nitrogen productivities from this study were almost half of values from previous studies. In conclusion, it appears that lower phytoplankton biomass in Bering Strait and the Chukchi Sea resulted in the lower carbon and nitrogen uptake rates and consequently more unused nitrate in the regions.