Description: We compare and contrast the ecological impacts of atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns on polar and sub-polar marine ecosystems. Circulation patterns differ strikingly between the north and south. Meridional circulation in the north provides connections between the sub-Arctic and Arctic despite the presence of encircling continental landmasses, whereas annular circulation patterns in the south tend to isolate Antarctic surface waters from those in the north. These differences influence fundamental aspects of the polar ecosystems from the amount, thickness and duration of sea ice, to the types of organisms, and the ecology of zooplankton, fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Meridional flows in both the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans transport heat, nutrients, and plankton northward into the Chukchi Sea, the Barents Sea, and the seas off the west coast of Greenland. In the North Atlantic, the advected heat warms the waters of the southern Barents Sea and, with advected nutrients and plankton, supports immense biomasses of fish, seabirds and marine mammals. On the Pacific side of the Arctic, cold waters flowing northward across the northern Bering and Chukchi seas during winter and spring limit the ability of boreal fish species to take advantage of high seasonal production there. Southward flow of cold Arctic waters into sub-Arctic regions of the North Atlantic occurs mainly through Fram Strait with less through the Barents Sea and the Canadian Archipelago. In the Pacific, the transport of Arctic waters and plankton southward through Bering Strait is minimal. In the Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and its associated fronts are barriers to the southward dispersal of plankton and pelagic fishes from sub-Antarctic waters, with the consequent evolution of Antarctic zooplankton and fish species largely occurring in isolation from those to the north. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current also disperses biota throughout the Southern Ocean, and as a result, the biota tends to be similar within a given broad latitudinal band. South of the Southern Boundary of the ACC, there is a large-scale divergence that brings nutrient-rich water to the surface. This divergence, along with more localized upwelling regions and deep vertical convection in winter, generates elevated nutrient levels throughout the Antarctic at the end of austral winter. However, such elevated nutrient levels do not support elevated phytoplankton productivity through the entire Southern Ocean, as iron concentrations are rapidly removed to limiting levels by spring blooms in deep waters. However, coastal regions, with the upward mixing of iron, maintain greatly enhanced rates of production, especially in coastal polynyas. In these coastal areas, elevated primary production supports large biomasses of zooplankton, fish, seabirds, and mammals. As climate warming affects these advective processes and their heat content, there will likely be major changes in the distribution and abundance of polar biota, in particular the biota dependent on sea ice.

Description: © 2009 The Authors. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. The definitive version was published in Biogeosciences 6 (2009): 3131-3147, doi: 10.5194/bg-6-3131-2009

Description: Iron availability and temperature are important limiting factors for the biota in many areas of the world ocean, and both have been predicted to change in future climate scenarios. However, the impacts of combined changes in these two key factors on microbial trophic dynamics and nutrient cycling are unknown. We examined the relative effects of iron addition (+1 nM) and increased temperature (+4°C) on plankton assemblages of the Ross Sea, Antarctica, a region characterized by annual algal blooms and an active microbial community. Increased iron and temperature individually had consistently significant but relatively minor positive effects on total phytoplankton abundance, phytoplankton and microzooplankton community composition, as well as photosynthetic parameters and nutrient drawdown. Unexpectedly, increased iron had a consistently negative impact on microzooplankton abundance, most likely a secondary response to changes in phytoplankton community composition. When iron and temperature were increased in concert, the resulting interactive effects were greatly magnified. This synergy between iron and temperature increases would not have been predictable by examining the effects of each variable individually. Our results suggest the possibility that if iron availability increases under future climate regimes, the impacts of predicted temperature increases on plankton assemblages in polar regions could be significantly enhanced. Such synergistic and antagonistic interactions between individual climate change variables highlight the importance of multivariate studies for marine global change experiments.

Description: This project was supported by US NSF grants ANT 0528715 to JMR, ANT 0741411, ANT 0741428 and OCE 0825319 to DAH, ANT 0338157 to WOS, ANT 0338097 to GRD, and ANT 0338350 to RBD.

Description: Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2015. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Marine Systems 166 (2017): 87-96, doi:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2016.08.014.

Description: The bioavailability of iron influences the distribution, biomass and productivity of phytoplankton in the Ross Sea, one of the most productive regions in the Southern Ocean. We mapped the spatial and temporal extent and severity of iron-limitation of the native phytoplankton assemblage using long- (〉24 h) and short-term (24 h) iron- addition experiments along with physiological and molecular characterisations during a cruise to the Ross Sea in December-February 2012. Phytoplankton increased their photosynthetic efficiency in response to iron addition, suggesting proximal iron limitation throughout most of the Ross Sea during summer. Molecular and physiological data further indicate that as nitrate is removed from the surface ocean the phytoplankton community transitions to one displaying an iron-efficient photosynthetic strategy characterised by an increase in the size of photosystem II (PSII) photochemical cross section (σPSII) and a decrease in the chlorophyll-normalised PSII abundance. These results suggest that phytoplankton with the ability to reduce their photosynthetic iron requirements are selected as the growing season progresses, which may drive the well-documented progression from Phaeocystis antarctica- assemblages to diatom-dominated phytoplankton. Such a shift in the assemblage-level photosynthetic strategy potentially mediates further drawdown of nitrate following the development of iron deficient conditions in the Ross Sea.

Description: This research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (ANT-0944254 to W.O.S., ANT-0944174 to P.N.S.), and a NERC PhD studentship to TRK.

Description: © The Author(s), 2015. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 42 (2015): 8088–8097, doi:10.1002/2015GL065727.

Description: The Ross Sea sustains a rich ecosystem and is the most productive sector of the Southern Ocean. Most of this production occurs within a polynya during the November–February period, when the availability of dissolved iron (dFe) is thought to exert the major control on phytoplankton growth. Here we combine new data on the distribution of dFe, high-resolution model simulations of ice melt and regional circulation, and satellite-based estimates of primary production to quantify iron supply and demand over the Ross Sea continental shelf. Our analysis suggests that the largest sources of dFe to the euphotic zone are wintertime mixing and melting sea ice, with a lesser input from intrusions of Circumpolar Deep Water and a small amount from melting glacial ice. Together these sources are in approximate balance with the annual biological dFe demand inferred from satellite-based productivity algorithms, although both the supply and demand estimates have large uncertainties.

Description: Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2013. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Progress in Oceanography 122 (2014): 10-29, doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2013.11.007.

Description: The productivity and linkages in the food web of the southern region of the west Antarctic Peninsula continental shelf were investigated using a multi-trophic level mass balance model. Data collected during the Southern Ocean Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics field program were combined with data from the literature on the abundance and diet composition of zooplankton, fish, seabirds and marine mammals to calculate energy flows in the food web and to infer the overall food web structure at the annual level. Sensitivity analyses investigated the effects of variability in growth and biomass of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and in the biomass of Antarctic krill predators on the structure and energy fluxes in the food web. Scenario simulations provided insights into the potential responses of the food web to a reduced contribution of large phytoplankton (diatom) production to total primary production, and to reduced consumption of primary production by Antarctic krill and mesozooplankton coincident with increased consumption by microzooplankton and salps. Model-derived estimates of primary production were 187 – 207 g C m-2 y-1, which are consistent with observed values (47-351 g C m-2 y-1). Simulations showed that Antarctic krill provide the majority of energy needed to sustain seabird and marine mammal production, thereby exerting a bottom-up control on higher trophic level predators. Energy transfer to top predators via mesozooplanton was a less efficient pathway, and salps were a production loss pathway because little of the primary production they consumed was passed to higher trophic levels. Increased predominance of small phytoplankton (nanoflagellates and cryptophytes) reduced the production of Antarctic krill and of its predators, including seabirds and seals.

Description: Support for T. Ballerini and E. Hofmann was provided by NSF grant OCE-0814584, for D. Ainley by ANT-0944411 and OCE-0814406, for C. Ribic by OCE-0814406. K. Daly and M. Marrari were supported by NSF grant OCE-0814405.

Description: Dataset: Ross Sea Productivity

Description: This dataset is a compilation of primary productivity measurements from a total of 449 stations in the Ross Sea. Data were collected on multiple cruises conducted from 1983 to 2006 on USCGC Glacier, RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer, R/V Polar Duke, USCGC Polar Star, and USCGC Polar Sea. These data were published in a variety of papers, including Wilson et al. (1986), Smith et al. (1999, 2000, 2013), and Nelson and Smith (1991). Many of the productivity data are available within individual data reports available on BCO-DMO (e.g., AESOPS, CORSACS), but others were collected prior to the initiation of a centralized data center and hence are not available except in this dataset. Integrated station data are provided in the attached Supplemental File titled "Integrated Water Column Station Data" (.csv file). See the "Supplemental Files" section of the BCO-DMO dataset landing page for more information on the integrated station data. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/863815

Description: NSF Office of Polar Programs (formerly NSF PLR) (NSF OPP) OPP-0338157

Description: Dataset: Bottle TN368

Description: Bottle sample data from CTD casts from the third cruise of SPIROPA project, R/V Thomas G. Thompson cruise TN368, to the New England Shelfbreak in July of 2019. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/849340

Description: NSF Division of Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE) OCE-1657803

Description: Dataset: CTD AR29, RB1904 and TN3638

Description: CTD casts from the first, second and third cruises of the SPIROPA project. The first cruise (AR29), took place aboard the R/V Neil Armstrong in April 2018, the second cruise (RB1904) on the Ronald H. Brown in May 2019 and the third cruise (TN368) took place on the R/V Thomas G. Thompson cruise in July of 2019. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/807119

Description: NSF Division of Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE) OCE-1657803

Description: Dataset: Ross Sea Productivity

Description: This dataset is a compilation of primary productivity measurements from a total of 449 stations in the Ross Sea. Data were collected on multiple cruises conducted from 1983 to 2006 on USCGC Glacier, RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer, R/V Polar Duke, USCGC Polar Star, and USCGC Polar Sea. These data were published in a variety of papers, including Wilson et al. (1986), Smith et al. (1999, 2000, 2013), and Nelson and Smith (1991). Many of the productivity data are available within individual data reports available on BCO-DMO (e.g., AESOPS, CORSACS), but others were collected prior to the initiation of a centralized data center and hence are not available except in this dataset. Integrated station data are provided in the attached Supplemental File titled "Integrated Water Column Station Data" (.csv file). See the "Supplemental Files" section of the BCO-DMO dataset landing page for more information on the integrated station data. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/863815

Description: NSF Office of Polar Programs (formerly NSF PLR) (NSF OPP) OPP-0338157

Description: Dataset: IVARS Marine Snow profiles

Description: “This data set replaces https://hdl.handle.net/1912/24231 or DOI:10.1575/1912/bco-dmo.719478.1.” Abundance and size distribution of marine snow aggregates from profiles conducted during R/V Polar Star cruises in the Ross Sea, Antarctica between 2001 and 2005. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/719478

Description: NSF Division of Polar Programs (NSF PLR) PLR-0087401