Collaborative Research: The Importance of Shelf Break Upwelling to Upper Trophic Level Ecology in the Western Beaufort Sea

波弗特海的浅海大陆架边缘(称为“陆架断裂”)既容易受到持续气候变化的直接影响，也容易受到人类活动增加以应对与海洋变暖和海冰减少相关的新机遇的间接影响。由于最近的大范围大气变化，波弗特海的陆架断裂上升流的频率可能正在增加，这可能会增加陆架断裂环境对一系列上层营养层动物的重要性。这笔赠款将支持研究，以增加我们对该地区从鲸鱼、海鸟和海豹等上层营养层的重要性的了解，提供对相互关联的大气-海洋-浮游生物-捕食者系统的机械理解，并预测环境变化对该系统的未来后果和影响。在研究人员与阿拉斯加北坡社区和自给自足组织之间长期建立的良好关系的基础上，计划建立一个实质性的沟通计划，以协调计划中的抽样并将研究结果传达给社区。信息将在两次研究巡航之前和期间在当地传播，使用一系列媒体，包括每日电子邮件报道、Facebook页面、博客、当地电台的采访和传单。将向北坡社区分发一份全面的项目报告、一份用直截了当的英语撰写的总结报告和一份描述结果的海报。项目成员还将在当地系列讲座中或向感兴趣的当地组织介绍研究成果。计划让一名K-12教师参与至少一次巡游。这两次巡游都将有一名当地社区观察员参与，他们将在巡游期间直接与当地社区沟通，并与科学党分享当地知识。波弗特海陆架断裂经历了深的、营养丰富的盆地水频繁上涌到陆架上。这种上升流不仅是热量、盐分和营养物质的短期来源，也是促进初级生产力提高的机制(产量反应)，而且它还在海洋区域和深层地层或制度之间输送种群(物理反应)，潜在地改变生态系统结构，并改变浮游动物和鱼类猎物对上层营养级消费者的可用性。波弗特海陆架断裂是上层营养层动物数量增加的一个领域，据推测是为了应对猎物数量的增加。在这里，我们建议探索和确定大范围大气强迫、海洋物理响应、猎物基地条件和分布、上层营养层动物聚集和沿波弗特陆架断裂的气候变化之间的联系机制。我们最重要的假设是，沿着这个陆架断裂的大气强迫(风引起的)上升流增加了远洋生态系统(浮游动物、饲料鱼)中间环节的摄食机会，进而维持了白鲸、海鸟和海豹等动物对这一环境的开发。这一假设将通过基于船舶的现场工作、配备物理和生物传感器的长期系泊以及回顾和预测的模型输出以及较长期数据的综合来解决。多个营养级别的分布、丰度、状况和生物学将在物理环境动力学的背景下描述，以扩大我们对营养联系和陆架断裂上升流对该系统的重要性的理解。物理和生物模型输出和回溯性数据将与现场计划中获得的机械理解相结合，以回溯性地描述风力驱动的上层营养层生态系统的变异性，并预测生态系统可能如何对这些大气驱动因素和冰海条件的未来预测做出反应。

The edge of the shallow continental shelf (called the 'shelf break') in the Beaufort Sea is vulnerable both to direct impacts of ongoing climate change
and to indirect impacts that may result from increased human activity in response to new opportunities associated with ocean warming and sea ice reduction. Beaufort Sea shelf break upwelling may be increasing in frequency in response to recent large-scale atmospheric changes, potentially increasing the importance of the shelf-break environment for a range of upper trophic level animals. This grant will support research to increase our understanding of the importance of
the region to upper trophic levels such as beluga
whales, seabirds, and seals, provide a mechanistic understanding of the linked atmosphere-ocean- plankton-predator system, and predict future consequences and impacts of environmental change
on this system. A substantial communications program built upon long-standing, well-established relationships
between the researchers and Alaska North Slope communities and subsistence organizations is planned both to coordinate the planned sampling and to convey the results of the research back to the communities. Information will be disseminated locally before and during two research cruises using a range of media including daily email reports, Facebook pages, blogs, interviews on local radio stations, and flyers. A comprehensive project
report, a summary report written in straightforward English, and a poster describing results
will be disseminated to the North Slope communities. Project members will also present results
of the research in local lecture series or to interested local organizations. Involvement
of a K-12 teacher in at least one of the cruises is planned. Both cruises will have
the participation of a local community observer who will communicate directly with local communities during the cruise and share local knowledge with the science party. The Beaufort Sea shelf break experiences frequent upwelling of deep, nutrient rich basin water
onto the shelf. Such upwelling is not only a short-term source of heat, salt, and nutrients, and a mechanism promoting elevated primary production (production response), but it also transports populations between ocean regions and depth strata or regimes (physical response), potentially modifying ecosystem structure and availability of zooplankton and fish prey to upper trophic
level consumers. The Beaufort Sea shelf break is a domain of enhanced abundance of upper
trophic level animals, presumably in response to elevated availability of their prey. Here
we propose to explore and identify the mechanisms linking broad-scale atmospheric forcing, ocean physical response, prey-base condition and distribution, upper trophic level animal aggregations, and climate change along the Beaufort Shelf break. Our overarching hypothesis
is that atmospherically-forced (wind-induced) upwelling along this shelf break leads to enhanced feeding opportunities for intermediate links in the pelagic ecosystem (zooplankton, forage
fish) that in turn sustain the exploitation of this environment by animals such as beluga
whales, seabirds, and seals. This hypothesis will be addressed using a combination of ship-based fieldwork, long-term moorings equipped with physical and biological sensors, and syntheses of retrospective and projected model output and longer-term data. The distributions, abundances, condition, and biology of multiple trophic levels will
be described within the context of the dynamics of the physical environment to expand our understanding of trophic linkages and the importance of shelf-break upwelling to that system. Physical and biological model output and retrospective data will be synthesized with the mechanistic understanding gained during the field program to retrospectively characterize wind-driven
upper trophic level ecosystem variability and predict how the ecosystem may respond to future projections of these atmospheric drivers and ice-ocean conditions.