Citation:

s00300-011-1046-6

Name: Sea ice cover, and bottom water and sediment characteristics at stations in the Amundsen Gulf, Canada
Published: 2011
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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Abstract:

Seasonal dynamics in the activity of Arctic shelf benthos have been the subject of few local studies, and the pronounced among-site variability characterizing their results makes it difficult to upscale and generalize their conclusions. In a regional study encompassing five sites at 100-595 m water depth in the southeastern Beaufort Sea, we found that total pigment concentrations in surficial sediments, used as proxies of general food supply to the benthos, rose significantly after the transition from ice-covered conditions in spring (March-June 2008) to open-water conditions in summer (June-August 2008), whereas sediment Chl a concentrations, typical markers of fresh food input, did not. Macrobenthic biomass (including agglutinated foraminifera >500 µm) varied significantly among sites (1.2-6.4 g C/m**2 in spring, 1.1-12.6 g C/m**2 in summer), whereas a general spring-to-summer increase was not detected. Benthic carbon remineralisation also ranged significantly among sites (11.9-33.2 mg C/m**2/day in spring, 11.6-44.4 mg C/m**2/day in summer) and did in addition exhibit a general significant increase from spring-to-summer. Multiple regression analysis suggests that in both spring and summer, sediment Chl a concentration is the prime determinant of benthic carbon remineralisation, but other factors have a significant secondary influence, such as foraminiferan biomass (negative in both seasons), water depth (in spring) and infaunal biomass (in summer). Our findings indicate the importance of the combined and dynamic effects of food supply and benthic community patterns on the carbon remineralisation of the polar shelf benthos in seasonally ice-covered seas.

Project(s):

International Polar Year (2007-2008) (IPY)

Coverage:

Median Latitude: 70.843800 * Median Longitude: -124.701850 * South-bound Latitude: 69.968000 * West-bound Longitude: -127.088000 * North-bound Latitude: 71.318000 * East-bound Longitude: -121.811000

Date/Time Start: 2008-03-24T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2008-08-02T00:00:00

Comment:

Part of the IPY Circumpolar Flaw Lead Study and Canadian Healthy Oceans Network (CHONe).Data extracted in the frame of a joint ICSTI/PANGAEA IPY effort, see http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.150150

License:

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0)

Size:

2 datasets

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Datasets listed in this publication series

Link, H; Archambault, P; Tamelander, T et al. (2011): (Table 2) C remineralisation, pigments and macrobenthic biomass at stations sampled during a CCGS Amundsen cruise in 2008. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.817857
Link, H; Archambault, P; Tamelander, T et al. (2011): (Table 1) Sea ice cover, bottom salinity and bottom temperature of stations sampled during a CCGS Amundsen cruise in 2008. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.817856