Identification

Title

Control of phytoplankton bloom inception in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, by Ekman restratification

Abstract

Observations from November 2006 in the southwestern Ross Sea indicate that stratification developed in a localized fashion, proximal to upper ocean fronts. These regions were hotspots for biological productivity, exhibiting greater drawdown of CO₂ and accumulation of oxygen, indicative of enhanced photosynthesis and air-sea gas exchange. While the effect of stratification is clear, the reasons for its development was not; air temperatures were unseasonably cold, sea-ice melt and sea surface warming were not significant. By comparing a one-dimensional mixed layer model with two-dimensional numerical simulations that include horizontal density gradients characteristic of the region, it is shown that Ekman advection is critical to structuring early season stratification. Where fronts are forced by winds that oppose the surface frontal current, Ekman advection displaces lighter water over dense. As biological productivity is light limited in the Ross Sea, and thus sensitive to the depth of the mixed layer, Ekman restratification plays an important role in determining the spatial distribution and development of the annual phytoplankton bloom in the region. The presence of fronts is therefore of first-order importance to the restratification and bloom dynamics of the Ross Sea in the early spring.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d73x879b

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2012-01-18T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact