Role of physical processes in formation of spring phytoplankton bloom in the Bering Sea

Abstract

The main part of the annual primary production in the Arctic and Subarctic zones of the World Ocean is formed during the spring phytoplankton bloom. The timing of the bloom depends on combination of physical factors. Oscillating control hypothesis, proposed in [Hunt et al., 2002] for the Eastern Bering Sea, describes annual peculiarities of ecosystem development related to conditions of the spring phytoplankton bloom. We review propositions of this hypothesis on the reasons of phytoplankton bloom and its connection with physical processes for four local regions of the Bering Sea shelf. The regions include western, northern and south-eastern parts of the shelf. The analysis is based on ocean color and microwave remotely sensed data as well as on atmospheric reanalysis. The results allow for hypothesis improvement. An early phytoplankton bloom may be present in the surface layer in April or May along the eastern Bering Sea shelf even in situations of early sea ice retreat (e. g. February-March) or absence of ice during winter. However, such combinations were not observed in the western Bering Sea shelf region. In 1998–2018, early ice retreat in the western shelf region was always accompanied by relatively late phytoplankton bloom. The temporal lag between sea ice retreat and phytoplankton bloom may be substantial in some years along the southernmost position of the ice edge. On the other hand, the spring bloom in the northern part of the shelf usually follows the ice retreat. In case of early ice retreat, the timing of the bloom is determined not only by wind conditions, but also by heat balance at the surface of the sea. The results are proposed to be used in further analysis of ecosystem dynamics of the western Bering Sea shelf.

Hydrochemical basis of marine waters biological productivity surrounding Svalbard archipelago

“…Several studies use the term "preformed" to designate such values (preformed phosphates (P п ), preformed nitrates (N п ), and preformed silicates (Si п )). The calculation of preformed concentrations is based on stoichiometric ratios of phosphorus, nitrogen, and silicon to oxygen and carbon (Arzhanova and Zubarevich, 1995a;1997;Kivva, 2014). Preformed concentrations are nutrient concentration baselines (maximum concentrations) against which concentration decrease during photosynthesis is assessed.…”

“…Preformed concentrations are nutrient concentration baselines (maximum concentrations) against which concentration decrease during photosynthesis is assessed. This technique was used to estimate biological productivity of various water bodies that belong to the World Ocean, from the Bering Sea (Arzhanova and Zubarevich, 1995b;1997;Kivva, 2014), the Sea of Okhotsk (Arzhanova and Zubarevich, 1997), the Barents Sea (Nesvetova, 2003;Titov, 2003) and to the waters surrounding the Antarctic (Batrak, 2009). To implement the technique, one needs to know winter nutrients concentrations that may be observed before the phytoplankton spring bloom.…”