Advection and Food Webs in the Western Arctic: Retrospective Sample and Data Analysis and Modelling

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ABSTRACTOPP-9815682SMITH, SHARONMIAMI UNIVERSITY This project will initiate a study of the advection of large copepods onto continental shelves from the deep Arctic basin as a vital source of carbon for the planktonic ecosystem on the shelf. Without this source of carbon, the planktonic biota would have little food supply and the benthic fauna would dominate the food web. This fundamental process of transferring carbon from basin to upper waters of the shelf has not been studied in the Arctic ecosystem. The process is very important due to the possible overwintering of the copepods in the deep basin where they can serve as an annual source of food for zooplankton and fish when advected to the shelf during the short Arctic summer. The investigator will use retrospective analysis of data collected in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas to develop a biological model of the advection of copepods to test hypotheses about the migration of plankton as well as the effects of ocean circulation on the process. The model will allow testing of global change impacts on the availability of this important food source on the shelf. The results of this project will provide input for planning a large Phase 2 field program of the Shelf Basin Interactions project in 2002 in the same geographic area.