COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Shelf-Basin Exchange of Biogenic Material Between the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas

有机物质和生物从北极大陆架向北极深部盆地的转移可能会对北极盆地和北极大陆架生态系统的生物地球化学特征以及生态系统的功能和结构产生重大影响。然而，影响北冰洋大陆架上生物和生物物质分布的物理和生物过程，以及这些物质对北冰洋和北冰洋盆地的潜在输入，目前还知之甚少。为了更好地预测气候大范围变化对北极生态系统的潜在影响，必须增加对陆架-斜坡区域生物-物理耦合的了解。该项目将作为陆架盆地相互作用第二阶段实地方案的一部分，描述中尺度物理过程在楚奇大陆架与邻近的波弗特海之间生物物质和浮游生物种群交换或运输中的作用。拟议的研究由两个截然不同但又相互关联的部分组成：1)利用浮游生物记录仪对两个7月至8月期间(2002年和2004年)沿Beaufort/Chukchi大陆架断裂的两个地点的浮游生物和颗粒的丰度、分类和大小组成以及浮游生物在物理特征中的行为方面的描述；2)利用一组14个系泊校准声学多普勒海流剖面仪的绝对后向散射强度数据，描述外陆架和上坡浮游动物的丰度，以及两个区域在两个年度周期内交换水和生物物质的中尺度物理特征。

Transfer of organic material and organisms from Arctic shelves to the deep Arcticbasin may impact significantly the biogeochemical characteristics, and ecosystemfunction and structure, of both Arctic basin and the Arctic shelf ecosystems. However,the physical and biological processes influencing both the distribution of organisms andbiological material on the Arctic shelves and the potential input of these materials into theArctic Ocean and basin presently are poorly understood. It is critical to increaseunderstanding of the biological-physical coupling in the shelf-slope region in order tobetter predict the potential impact of large-scale changes in climate on the Arcticecosystem. The project will describe the role of mesoscale physical processes in theexchange or transport of biogenic material and plankton populations between the ChukchiShelf and neighboring Beaufort Sea as part of the Shelf Basin Interactions Phase II fieldprogram (SBI). The proposed research has two distinct yet interrelated components: 1) description of the abundance, taxonomic and size composition of plankton and particles and aspects of behavior of plankton in physical features at two locations along the Beaufort/Chukchi shelf break during two July-August process cruises (2002 and 2004) using a Video Plankton Recorder, 2) a description of the abundance of zooplankton on the outer shelf and upper slope and the mesoscale physical features that exchange water and biogenic materials between the two regions over two annual cycles using the absolute backscatter intensity data from an array of fourteen moored calibrated acoustic Doppler current profilers.