Sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation Arctic System Science Program, SBI Project Office and the Office of Naval Research SBI PHASE 2 - 2004 FIELD PLANNING MEETING USCG Base, Seattle, Washington December 3-5, 2003
The goal of this meeting is to plan the 2004 process and mooring field cruises in the context of recent SBI field results. Please bring summary science slides to support planning for the final field cruises of SBI Phase 2. We will have an overall talk on the multi-cruise, multi-year hydrography for the SBI region as well as a bio-physical coupled modeling talk, then 10 min individual PI talks to show results relevant to 2004 cruise planning input for science objectives on all process and mooring cruises. Also, I'll give an overview of the coastal community outreach that we've been doing in Alaska related to the spring and fall SBI cruises during bowhead whaling season. The USCG representatives will outline overall Healy operations and dry-dock upgrades. Healy MSTs will discuss the key components of the SBI projects hip needs, and ship set up for the cruises. Andy Heiberg will be at the meeting, too, as we will discuss on/offloading cargo issues, shipment of chemicals, van loading, etc
Note, the core SBI field-planning meeting will take place in the Chinook Room in Building 7 on the USCG base. Enter Building 7 at the NE corner of the building through glass entryway and follow the signs upstairs to the Chinook room. An aerial map, which shows the location on Alaska Way, is available at Tuesday, 2 December 2003: arrival at hotel
Wednesday, 3 December: Chinook Room, USCG base
0700-0800 Continental breakfast at Best Western Pioneer Square Hotel, then walk to meeting room on USCG base (map posted on the SBI website (http://sbi.utk.edu)
0830-0900 Opening Statements/SBI updates (Grebmeier, Healy Capt. Dan Oliver, Dave Forcucci)
0900-1000 Hydrography in the SBI study area: 2002 and 2003 (Swift, Codispoti, Flagg, Stockwell)
1000-1020 Walsh: coupled physical-biological SBI model results, assumptions, and implied SBI midcourse corrections
1020-1030 Maslowski: coupled physical-biological SBI model results, SBI 2004 planning
1030-1050 Break
1050-1200 Science talks relevant to 2004 field planning 1200-1300 Lunch: USCG base cafeteria
1300-1400 Continuation of science talks, then discussion of options for 2004 field sampling 1400-1530 2004 cruise plans 1530-1550 Break
1550-1730 Continue 2004 field plans, poster session
1730 Dinner on own
Thursday, 4 December 2003
0700-0800 Continental Breakfast at hotel
0830-1000 USCG Healy Updates and JOSS Field Catalog
LCDR Gregory Stanclik: Healy Seawater refit EO on Healy, will present the plan (and progress update) for the dry dock seawater system upgrade; he will also provide an update on plans for a back up system. Seawater system documentation, including the current dry dock plan and comments solicited from the science and technical community, is posted on the web page: www.uscg.mil/pacarea/iceops/seawater/Sample_sw/HEALY_science_seawater.htm Additional information on the Seachest can be found here.
MST introduction
JOSS Field Catalog, data plans
1000-1030 Break
1030-1200 Field Program: 2004 (Grebmeier) 1200-1300 Lunch
1300-1500 Field Program 2004 planning: break out discussion
1500-1530 Break
1530-1700 Return to plenary, discuss final field plans for 2004 (cruise transects, sampling)
1900-2000 SBI Group Dinner (TBD)
Friday, 5 December 2003
0730-0800 Continental breakfast at hotel
0830-1000 Continue 2004 field program discussions/SBI logistics (Grebmeier) 1000-1020 Break
1020-1200 Open Discussion 1200 Meeting ends
1300-1500 SBI AC group lunch in USCG cafeteria, SBI AC meeting in Bear Room (agenda sent separately from Lou Codispoti)
1500-1520 Break
1530-1700 Continue SBI AC meeting
1800 SBI AC Dinner at FX McRory (few blocks from USCG base
ORAL: Gradinger, Rolf:
CONTRIBUTION OF SEA ICE TO THE CARBON CYCLE IN THE SBI REGION
ORAL: Hansell, D., D. Kadko, N. Bates
NON-CONSERVATIVE BEHAVIOR OF TERRIGENOUS DISSOLVED ORGANIC CARBON IN THE WESTERN ARCTIC OCEAN
Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was measured at the Chukchi/Beaufort Sea shelf break during the SBI 2002 field season. Evident from DOC/salinity relationships was a fresh water intercept indicating unusually low terrigenous DOC (155 microM), and not the commonly high values found in Arctic rivers and the Eurasian Basin (near 600 microM). We suggest that this low intercept results from the long residence time (~20 years) of surface waters in the Beaufort Gyre, allowing significant degradation of terrigenous DOC. 228Ra/226Ra, used as a measure of time since water left the shelf, indicated the surface water we sampled at the gyre's edge, had an age of 13 years. With this age, and the terrigenous DOC decrease (450 microM), a terrigenous DOC decay constant of 0.104 year-1 and a half life of 6.66 years results. In contrast, in the Eurasian Basin, where the freshwater DOC intercept is high, surface waters have a much shorter residence time. Terrigenous DOC transferred from the Eurasian shelves into the Eurasian Basin via the Trans Polar Drift apparently has insufficient time to significantly degrade before being exported from the Arctic Ocean. The different ocean pathways of Arctic rivers draining North America and Eurasia impart different fates for terrigenous DOC.
ORAL: Kadko, D.C., University of Miami-RSMAS, Miami, USA, dkadko@rsmas.miami.edu
Muench, R., Earth & Space Research, Seattle, USA, rmuench@esr.org
EVALUATION OF SHELF-BASIN INTERACTION IN THE WESTERN ARCTIC BY USE OF SHORT-LIVED RADIUM ISOTOPES; EVIDENCE OF THE IMPORTANCE OF JETS AND EDDIES
Rapid shelf-basin exchange in the western Arctic was evaluated by use of the first ever measurement of the short-lived 224Ra (3.64 d half-life) in this region. Radium-224, generated in shelf sediment by decay of its parent 228Th, subsequently diffuses into the overlying water. There, the 224Ra (in excess of the parent) is transported to the extent that its decay-time allows thus providing a measure of short-timescale transport. During the 2002 SBI program, excess 224Ra was measured over the shelf but extended less than 20km beyond the shelf-break. Similarly, the 228Ra/226Ra ratio dropped rapidly across the shelf-break. Bering Strait inflow is constrained by the earth's rotation to follow local isobaths and does not easily move into deeper water. Possible mechanisms that can generate cross-shelf currents that break the topographic constraint to follow isobaths, and thereby transport water (and associated properties) off the shelves include meandering jets and eddies. Evidence of a jet was found during the ICEX project in April 2003 when excess 224Ra measured over 200 km from any shelf source corresponded to a high velocity feature (measured by ADCP) within the upper 300m of the ocean.
ORAL: Muench, Robin, Laurie Padman, Eric Johnson & Susan Howard, Earth & Space Research, Seattle, Washington, USA
UPPER OCEAN CURRENTS IN THE SBI STUDY AREA DURING JULY-AUGUST 03
Currents were measured throughout the SBI study area during July-August 2003 from the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer. Measurements were made using the vessel-mounted 150 kHz acoustic Doppler current profiler (VM-ADCP) and a lowered ADCP (LADCP) that was attached to the CTD rosette frame. The VM-ADCP returned data reliably down to about 300 m while underway and on station. The LADCP returned data throughout the water column at CTD stations. Visual comparison between vector current plots constructed for the upper ocean using the VM-ADCP and LADCP data show good agreement between the two independent measurement sets, lending credibility to the data. Two dominant features were observed. One was a down-canyon flow event in Barrow Canyon that was present early during the cruise but was not observed later in the cruise. Current speeds during this event were of order 100 cm s-1. The second feature was presence along the upper continental slope of a current jet some 200 km wide and having speeds of order 25 cm s-1. This jet was easterly or westerly at different times, and at different cross-slope transects, during the cruise. The reversals cannot be explained in terms of tidal currents: modeled tidal currents for the region exceed 10 cm s-1 only in the vicinity of Herald Island and above shoal areas associated with the Chukchi Borderlands, and are far lower along the slope and shelf break. Thus, we hypothesize that flow reversals are subtidal, perhaps driven by weather systems.
POSTER: Cooper, Lee University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, U.S.A.; lcooper1@utk.edu
Ron Benner,, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, U.S.A.; benner@biol.sc.edu
Lou Codispoti., University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Cambridge, MD U.S.A.; codispot@hpl.umces.edu
Vince Kelley., University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Cambridge, MD U.S.A.; vkelly@hpl.umces.edu
James McClelland., Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA U.S.A.; jmcclelland@mbl.edu
Bruce Peterson., Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA U.S.A.; peterson@mbl.edu
Max Holmes., Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA U.S.A.; rholmes@mbl.edu
Jackie Grebmeier, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, U.S.A.; jgrebmei@utk.edu
TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING SHELF-BASIN INTERACTIONS: SEASONAL VARIABILITY IN THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE COMPOSITION OF ARCTIC WATERS IN CONJUNCTION WITH OTHER TRACERS
The use of stable oxygen isotope variations in Arctic water masses to study temporal mixing processes in surface waters is incompletely resolved because there has been only limited sampling outside of summer. We report here the results of several research sampling programs that are providing data on the isotopic composition of Arctic rivers (Pan-Arctic River Transport of Nutrients, Organic Matter and Suspended Sediments, PARTNERS), shelf and deep basin regions of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas (Shelf Basin Interactions,
SBI), and flow through the northern Bering Sea and Bering Strait in late winter (Bering Strait Environmental Observatory). Combining these isotope ratio data with other variables, including terrestrial markers, nutrients, salinity, and denitrification indicators provide new insights on the timing and mechanisms of shelf-basin interaction. Among our observations include runoff-influenced waters that remain geographically separated over-winter from well-mixed, brine-influenced shelf and slope waters over the deep Canada Basin. These offshore waters have an apparently different source for persistent lignin in runoff components than waters directly flowing through Bering Strait in the summer, which suggests that these offshore runoff components originated from the Mackenzie River, or even possibly Russian rivers during a previous runoff season. Also observed in the Shelf-Basin Interactions data set were subsurface ventilation events as brine-injected shelf waters flowed down Barrow Canyon. In the center of Bering Strait, on Little Diomede Island at the U.S. - Russian frontier, we have also been trying to improve capabilities to analyze water flowing through Bering Strait on a continuous basis with automated equipment. For example, for the entire month of April 2003, we continuously pumped seawater from beneath the ice into a small laboratory space on the island where salinity, temperature, nutrients and chlorophyll-associated fluorescence was continually measured. Bottle samples were also collected for nutrients and stable oxygen isotopes. Based upon decreasing salinity, and variation in the stable oxygen isotope composition of these near-surface water during this period, the retreat and melt of sea ice in the Bering Sea was observed during this period, and a chlorophyll bloom associated with the dissolution of ice in the immediate vicinity of Bering Strait was also documented.
POSTER: Davis, Jenny, Karl Kaiser and Ron Benner
DISSOLVED AMINO SUGARS IN THE WESTERN ARCTIC OCEAN: SPATIO-TEMPORAL VARIABILITY
Amino sugars are a class of N-bearing carbohydrates that are abundant components of structural material in marine organisms. Despite the prevalence of these compounds in biota, little is known about their role in the organic matter cycles of the oceans. We surveyed dissolved amino sugar distributions during two cruises to the Chukchi Sea and Canada Basin of the Arctic Ocean. Concentrations of amino sugars were found to vary seasonally in surface waters and there was a great deal of spatial variability. Highest concentrations were detected over the shelf in both seasons. Our results indicate amino sugars are highly reactive components of dissolved organic matter and that high concentrations of these sugars are indicative of freshly produced organic matter. This
suggests that these carbohydrates are produced and recycled rapidly within the upper water
POSTER: Dunton, Ken, and Susan Schonberg, University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Port Aransas, TX 78373
ADVECTION OF CARBON ON THE WESTERN ARCTIC SHELF: IMPLICATIONS FOR BENTHIC-PELAGIC COUPLING
Our recent work addresses the linkages between benthic community structure and biomass in the western Arctic to associated physical and biological processes. Patterns in benthic biomass reveal distinguishing features that are related to the northward flow of organically-rich waters that pass through the Bering Strait and then split with part of the water flowing northwest to the East Siberian Sea and the other part moving northeast through Barrow Canyon to the Beaufort Sea. Evidence for the importance of rich Bering Sea waters on the Arctic Shelf is provided by carbon and nitrogen stable isotope signatures to trace carbon advected onto adjacent shelves and as indicators of trophic links between pelagic and benthic components of the shelf and slope. Our preliminary del 13C measurements of POM reveal that values are 2-5 ? lower (more negative) in late summer compared to spring, especially over the shelf and basin. Based on these results and the isotopic values of ice algae, we estimate that ice algal carbon potentially contributes up to 25% of the POC pool over the Chukchi Shelf during the spring bloom. Overall, benthic organisms become more 13C depleted between the Chukchi Sea and western Beaufort, while 15N ratios remain relatively constant. These data support the hypothesis that carbon advected northeastward along the Alaskan arctic coast is assimilated by benthic consumers, but its relative importance begins to decline east of Point Barrow.
POSTER: Grebmeier, J.M., on behalf of the U.S. Planning Committee on the International Polar Year, National Academies (NAS), Washington, DC; jgrebmei@utk.edu
NAS contacts: Sheldon Drobot (sdrobot@nas.edu) and Chris Elfring (celfring@nas.edu)
INTERNATIONAL POLAR YEAR 2007-2008: U.S. INTERDISCIPLINARY PLANNING EFFORT
The year 2007/08 will mark the 125th anniversary of the First International Polar Year (1882/3), the 75th anniversary of the Second Polar Year (1932/3), and the 50th anniversary of the International Geophysical Year (1957/8). The IPYs and IGY were important initiatives that resulted in significant new insights into global processes and led to decades of invaluable polar research. But in spite of the substantial effort in polar exploration and research over the years, both by individual nations and through international programs, the relative inaccessibility and challenging environment have left these regions less explored and studied than other key regions of the planet. Earth system processes in the polar region remain significantly less understood relative to our understanding of processes in other, more accessible regions.
Planning is underway to hold an International Polar Year (IPY) in 2007-2008. It is envisioned as an intense program of internationally coordinated polar observations, exploration, and analysis, with strong education and outreach components. To be successful, IPY should be visionary and more than a continuation of present efforts (although current and planned efforts and enabling technologies should be part of what is done). It must address both the Arctic and Antarctic, and look for linkages between the regions. It must be multi-disciplinary, including study of human dimensions, and truly international. Ideally, IPY will provide both specific short-term outcomes and lay a foundation for longer-term commitments. If done well, IPY could attract and develop a new generation of polar scientists.
The International Council on Science (ICSU) has endorsed the IPY concept and has encouraged nations to determine their priorities. An ICSU Planning Group is preparing a draft science plan for distribution in February 2004. Thus this is an important time for the science community to articulate its interests. This presentation will outline current ideas for the next IPY, with a specific emphasis on projects related to the atmosphere. The objective is to inform participants of current plans and gather input on other ideas and programs that could be integrated into the next IPY.
POSTER: Harvey, H. Rodger, Laura L. BELICKA1and Robie W. MACDONALD2
1Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Solomons, MD, U.S.A;
2Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Institute of Ocean Sciences, Sidney, BC, Canada
SHELF-BASIN EXCHANGE AND PRESERVATION OF ORGANIC CARBON IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN
Our efforts during the field season of 2002 included collections of particles and sediments of the Kokolik and Ikpikpuk Rivers and stations along Barrow Canyon (EB &BC) whose analyses are now complete. Detailed analysis of individual organic biomarkers in these and (many) other samples is being used to understand the sources, cycling and transport of organic carbon from shelves to basins.
Biomarkers specific for terrestrial carbon (long-chain saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, ?-amyrin, and ?-sitosterol) were present in all sediments, demonstrating the abundance of terrestrial input from Arctic Rivers and the transport of terrigenous material towards the interior of the western Arctic basin. Radiocarbon analysis reveals that much of this carbon is hundreds to thousands of years old. In addition to terrestrial markers, sediments from the continental shelf near East Barrow Canyon also contained a large proportion of sterols indicative of diatoms (24-methylcholesta-5,24(28)-dienol and 24-ethylcholesta-5,24(28)Z-dienol) together with algal polyunsaturated fatty acids (18:4, 20:5 and 22:6) and high phytol concentrations. Concentrations of marine and terrestrial biomarkers were highest at East Barrow 4, suggesting that organic matter is focused towards this slope location by turbidity currents or ice transport.
Principal components analysis (PCA) is being used used to help define the underlying trends among the suite of almost 100 individual biomarkers quantified in each sample. Initial results have shown that carbon origin appears a major influence (31% of total variability) in compositional differences. Biomarkers clustered into 3 major groups using PCA with 2 groups dominated by markers representative of terrestrial carbon. The third group contained marine-derived biomarkers that are rapidly lost during particle transport to sediments. The separation of two clusters of terrestrial markers may indicate separate pools of terrestrial carbon based on age, particle size or perhaps lability. These results demonstrate the need to assess Arctic Ocean transport pathways (i.e., ice motion and water circulation) and time scales of transport and degradation. Compound-specific isotope analysis is being used to further constrain the time scales of deposition and confirm several biomarker source assignments.
POSTER: Plourde1, Stéphane, Carin Ashjian2, and Robert Campbell3
1Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Maurice-Lamontagne Institute, Monty-Joli Qc
2Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Department of Biology
3University of Rhode Island, Graduate School of Oceanography
EGG PRODUCTION AND HATCHING SUCCESS OF CALANUS GLACIALIS/ MARSHALLAE: A DOMINANT COPEPOD IN THE SBI STUDY REGION DURING 2002
Egg production rates of dominant copepod species were determined during the two 2002 SBI process cruises. Calanus glacialis, an Arctic species, and Calanus marshallae, a Pacific species, are similar morphometrically and are reproductively active during the spring and summer. These two species were not differentiated. Egg production rates and egg hatching success for C. glacialis/marshallae were determined in both shelf and basin regions. Results suggest that egg production on the shelf was initiated earlier, reached higher levels, and lasted longer than in the adjacent basin. Egg production rate, which appeared to be fueled by phytoplankton, ice algae, and microzooplankton, was correlated with chlorophyll-based ingestion rates. Egg production rates dropped off markedly at the end of the second process cruise because of decreases in both spawning frequency and clutch size suggesting that this was the end of the reproductive season for this species. Hatching was similar in both shelf and basin regions and usually greater than 80%. Egg production rates for C. glacialis/marshalle observed on the shelf exceeded those observed for this species in the adjacent basin and during 1997-1998 further to the north in the Arctic Basin.
POSTER: Roberts, Steve, Greg Stossmeister and Jim Moore, JOSS.
GIS IN THE ARCTIC: A PROTOTYPE WEB TOOL FOR DATA PERUSAL
The ability to cross-reference time-series or point measurement data with other geo-spatial
information, such as imagery or maps has long been a need of the scientific community.
Analysis of similar datasets from different locations often requires a comparison of the
geographic or parameter-specific spatial context within which each dataset was collected.
At present, such analysis frequently requires the researcher to invest considerable time and effort
in the conversion of data formats as well as purchasing, learning, and/or writing specialized
software to overlay a very limited amount of data on a spatial image.The UCAR Joint Office
for Science Support (JOSS) has been developing a tool to meet this need in the research
community. This tool is called the Interactive Data Mapper (IDM).The IDM is web-based
for ease of use and is built upon the MAPSERVER software (http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/ )
developed at the University of Minnesota. Some examples of the functionality of the IDM
are described.
AGENDA
Muench et a. Upper Ocean Currents in The SBI Study Area During July-August
Hansell, Kadko and Bates: Non-conservative behavior of terrigenous dissolved organic carbon in the western Arctic Ocean
Gradinger: Contribution of sea ice to the Carbon Cycle in the SBI region
Ashjian: zooplankton/VPR
Kadko, Dave and Robin Muench, Evaluation of Shelf-Basin Interaction in the Western Arctic by Use of Short-Lived Radium Isotopes; Evidence Of The Importance Of Jets And Eddies
Christensen: winter SBI component (Christensen and Melling)
Christensen and Devol
Cooper and Grebmeier
Woodgate
Pickart
Others?
Grebmeier: 2004 preliminary plan
Cota: 2004 two transect reoccupation alternative
Harvey, Kirchman, Smith: more basin stations
Relation to other programs (CASES, JWACS, RUSALCA, China): Grebmeier, others?
Open discussion
Water needs/satellite validation (Cota)
Net needs (Ashjian)
Pumping (Moran)
Sediment needs (Grebmeier)
Additional 2004 sampling (floating sediment traps, gravity coring, marine mammal observers, ice observations, NASA?, etc.)
Participants/berthing issues (science, teachers: Dunton, Moran, Grebmeier), media, coastal community participants)
Andy Heiberg, SBI Logistics Coordinator Update
Timing for cargo shipment to Healy
Van needs, equipment needs
Loading schedule for Healy in spring, departure to Arctic (USCG)
Logistics for shipping chemicals, gear (USCG)
Medical forms (USCG)
Special issue Deep-Sea Research/papers/timetable (Grebmeier, Harvey, Smith)
Special session Feb. 2004: ASLO and/or AGU (Whitledge/Grebmeier)
Results 3rd SBI Pan-Arctic Meeting, 3-7 Nov 2003, Cadiz, Spain (Grebmeier)
ORAL ABSTRACTS
POSTER ABSTRACTS