• Home
  • About
  • Program
  • Logistics
  • Abstracts

Arctic Ocean Primary Production in the Next Decades: What are the Projections?

Arctic Ocean Primary Production in the Next Decades: What are the Projections?
Type: 
Parallel
Time: 
17 March 2010 - 11:45am
Paul Wassmann1
1Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economy, University of Tromso, Breivika, Tromso, 9037, Norway, Phone 47-7764-4459, Fax 47-7764-6020, paul [dot] wassmann [at] uit [dot] no

The basic ecological knowledge at the Arctic Ocean is insufficient to evaluate projections of arctic change with reasonable precision. In the European sector of the Arctic, three basic gross primary production (GPP) domains can be distinguished: (i) extensive and dominated by Atlantic Water, (ii) the stretched out strata of the seasonal ice zone and (iii) the compact perennial ice zone (>100, between 100 and 30 and < 30 g C m-2 y-1). Interannual coefficient of variation for primary production in domain (i) was <0.1, and increased northwards towards >0.6 in the north western– and northeasternmost fringe of the seasonal ice zone (SIZ). The primary production in the northern sector of the European Arctic Corridor region prior to 2007 was characterized by limited interannual variability, on average 75.2 g &plusmn 10% and 24.0 &plusmn 16% g C m-2 y-1 for the EAC region at 74–80 and >80&degN, respectively. The principal primary production anomalies are found early in the productive season and sections of the SIZ, in general regions of low GPP. There was no significant trend of increasing GPP in the 1994–2007 time interval. This is in contrast to the Canadian basin of the Arctic Ocean where reduced ice cover has resulted in significant increases in GPP. While climate change projections point at an average increase in GPP from about 10 to >30 g C m-2 y-1, the outcome with regard to the C flux is complex because increases in temperature and less ice result in also in strongly increased respiration, a strengthening of the microbial food web and dominance of smaller plankton species and a decrease of food availability for higher trophic levels. In concert this will result in a reversion of the C flux from today's uptake from the atmosphere to tomorrows release. When today's SIZ becomes thinner and retreats from the shelf towards the Arctic Ocean's interior, little of our current ecological knowledge can be applied because basically unknown processes.

Presentation PDF

application/pdf iconDownload PDF (5.03 MB)

Browse Session Abstracts

  • View abstracts for the talks in each of the plenary session
  • View abstracts for the talks in each of the parallel session
  • View abstracts for the poster presentations
  • Products
  • Attendees
  • Sponsors
  • Side Meetings
  • Video Archive
  • Press
  • ARCUS Logo
  • News
  • Organizing Committee
National Science Foundation | Division of Arctic Sciences
National Science Foundation
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
International Arctic Systems for Observing the Atmosphere
International Arctic Systems for Observing the Atmosphere
Study of Environmental Arctic Change
Study of Environmental Arctic Change
Arctic System Science Program
Arctic System Science Program
US Arctic Research Commission
US Arctic Research Commission
North Slope Science Initiative
North Slope Science Initiative
International Arctic Science Committee
International Arctic Science Committee
Arctic Ocean Sciences Board
Arctic Ocean Sciences Board
Alaska Ocean Observing System
Alaska Ocean Observing System
Department of Energy
Department of Energy
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
World Wildlife Fund
WWF
Association of Polar Early Career Scientists
Association of Polar Early Career Scientists
Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Land Management
International Study of Arctic Change
International Study of Arctic Change
ArcticNet
ArcticNet
DAMOCLES
Developing Arctic Modeling and Observing Capabilities for Long-term Environmental Studies

This work is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the ARCUS Cooperative Agreement ARC-0618885. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.