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Science. Massive Phytoplankton Blooms Under Arctic Sea Ice
[Source: Science, full text: (LINK). Abstract, edited.]
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<CITE>Published Online June 7 2012 - <ABBR>Science</ABBR> 15 June 2012: Vol. 336 no. 6087 p. 1408 - DOI: 10.1126/science.1215065 </CITE>
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Massive Phytoplankton Blooms Under Arctic Sea Ice
Kevin R. Arrigo<SUP>1</SUP>,*,?, Donald K. Perovich<SUP>2</SUP>,<SUP>3</SUP>, Robert S. Pickart<SUP>4</SUP>, Zachary W. Brown<SUP>1</SUP>, Gert L. van Dijken<SUP>1</SUP>, Kate E. Lowry<SUP>1</SUP>, Matthew M. Mills<SUP>1</SUP>, Molly A. Palmer<SUP>1</SUP>, William M. Balch<SUP>5</SUP>, Frank Bahr<SUP>4</SUP>, Nicholas R. Bates<SUP>6</SUP>, Claudia Benitez-Nelson<SUP>7</SUP>, Bruce Bowler<SUP>5</SUP>, Emily Brownlee<SUP>8</SUP>, Jens K. Ehn<SUP>9</SUP>, Karen E. Frey<SUP>10</SUP>, Rebecca Garley<SUP>6</SUP>, Samuel R. Laney<SUP>8</SUP>, Laura Lubelczyk<SUP>5</SUP>, Jeremy Mathis<SUP>11</SUP>, Atsushi Matsuoka<SUP>12</SUP>, B. Greg Mitchell<SUP>9</SUP>, G. W. K. Moore<SUP>13</SUP>, Eva Ortega-Retuerta<SUP>14</SUP>, Sharmila Pal<SUP>7</SUP>, Chris M. Polashenski<SUP>2</SUP>, Rick A. Reynolds<SUP>9</SUP>, Brian Schieber<SUP>9</SUP>, Heidi M. Sosik<SUP>8</SUP>, Michael Stephens<SUP>15</SUP>, James H. Swift<SUP>9</SUP>
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Author Affiliations: <SUP>1</SUP>Department of Environmental Earth System Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. <SUP>2</SUP>Engineer Research and Development Center, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. <SUP>3</SUP>Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. <SUP>4</SUP>Department of Physical Oceanography, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA. <SUP>5</SUP>Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, West Boothbay Harbor, ME 04575, USA. <SUP>6</SUP>Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, Ferry Reach GE01, Bermuda. <SUP>7</SUP>Marine Science Program and Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA. <SUP>8</SUP>Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA. <SUP>9</SUP>Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. <SUP>10</SUP>Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, Worcester, MA 01610, USA. <SUP>11</SUP>School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA. <SUP>12</SUP>Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Laboratoire d'Oc?anographie de Villefranche, Villefranche-sur-Mer 06238, France. <SUP>13</SUP>Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7, Canada. <SUP>14</SUP>Laboratoire d'Oc?anographie Microbienne, Observatoire Oc?anologique, Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifiqueet Universit? Paris Pierre et Marie Curie, Banyuls/Mer 66650, France. <SUP>15</SUP>Colby College, Waterville, ME 04901, USA.
?To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: arrigo@stanford.edu
*The full list of author affiliations can be found in the supplementary materials.
Abstract
Phytoplankton blooms over Arctic Ocean continental shelves are thought to be restricted to waters free of sea ice. Here, we document a massive phytoplankton bloom beneath fully consolidated pack ice far from the ice edge in the Chukchi Sea, where light transmission has increased in recent decades because of thinning ice cover and proliferation of melt ponds. The bloom was characterized by high diatom biomass and rates of growth and primary production. Evidence suggests that under-ice phytoplankton blooms may be more widespread over nutrient-rich Arctic continental shelves and that satellite-based estimates of annual primary production in these waters may be underestimated by up to 10-fold.
-Kevin R. Arrigo<SUP>1</SUP>,*,?, Donald K. Perovich<SUP>2</SUP>,<SUP>3</SUP>, Robert S. Pickart<SUP>4</SUP>, Zachary W. Brown<SUP>1</SUP>, Gert L. van Dijken<SUP>1</SUP>, Kate E. Lowry<SUP>1</SUP>, Matthew M. Mills<SUP>1</SUP>, Molly A. Palmer<SUP>1</SUP>, William M. Balch<SUP>5</SUP>, Frank Bahr<SUP>4</SUP>, Nicholas R. Bates<SUP>6</SUP>, Claudia Benitez-Nelson<SUP>7</SUP>, Bruce Bowler<SUP>5</SUP>, Emily Brownlee<SUP>8</SUP>, Jens K. Ehn<SUP>9</SUP>, Karen E. Frey<SUP>10</SUP>, Rebecca Garley<SUP>6</SUP>, Samuel R. Laney<SUP>8</SUP>, Laura Lubelczyk<SUP>5</SUP>, Jeremy Mathis<SUP>11</SUP>, Atsushi Matsuoka<SUP>12</SUP>, B. Greg Mitchell<SUP>9</SUP>, G. W. K. Moore<SUP>13</SUP>, Eva Ortega-Retuerta<SUP>14</SUP>, Sharmila Pal<SUP>7</SUP>, Chris M. Polashenski<SUP>2</SUP>, Rick A. Reynolds<SUP>9</SUP>, Brian Schieber<SUP>9</SUP>, Heidi M. Sosik<SUP>8</SUP>, Michael Stephens<SUP>15</SUP>, James H. Swift<SUP>9</SUP>
<SUP></SUP>
Author Affiliations: <SUP>1</SUP>Department of Environmental Earth System Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. <SUP>2</SUP>Engineer Research and Development Center, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. <SUP>3</SUP>Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. <SUP>4</SUP>Department of Physical Oceanography, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA. <SUP>5</SUP>Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, West Boothbay Harbor, ME 04575, USA. <SUP>6</SUP>Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, Ferry Reach GE01, Bermuda. <SUP>7</SUP>Marine Science Program and Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA. <SUP>8</SUP>Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA. <SUP>9</SUP>Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. <SUP>10</SUP>Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, Worcester, MA 01610, USA. <SUP>11</SUP>School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA. <SUP>12</SUP>Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Laboratoire d'Oc?anographie de Villefranche, Villefranche-sur-Mer 06238, France. <SUP>13</SUP>Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7, Canada. <SUP>14</SUP>Laboratoire d'Oc?anographie Microbienne, Observatoire Oc?anologique, Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifiqueet Universit? Paris Pierre et Marie Curie, Banyuls/Mer 66650, France. <SUP>15</SUP>Colby College, Waterville, ME 04901, USA.
?To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: arrigo@stanford.edu
*The full list of author affiliations can be found in the supplementary materials.
Abstract
Phytoplankton blooms over Arctic Ocean continental shelves are thought to be restricted to waters free of sea ice. Here, we document a massive phytoplankton bloom beneath fully consolidated pack ice far from the ice edge in the Chukchi Sea, where light transmission has increased in recent decades because of thinning ice cover and proliferation of melt ponds. The bloom was characterized by high diatom biomass and rates of growth and primary production. Evidence suggests that under-ice phytoplankton blooms may be more widespread over nutrient-rich Arctic continental shelves and that satellite-based estimates of annual primary production in these waters may be underestimated by up to 10-fold.
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