Characterization of the Water Masses in the Shelf Region of the Bering and Chukchi Seas With Fluorescent Organic Matter

Abstract

AbstractPacific water is an important nutrient source for sustaining biological production in the Chukchi Sea, western Arctic Ocean, which is one of the productive regions in the world. Therefore, to understand the impacts of future environmental changes on biological production in the sea, it is crucial to understand the origins, modification processes, and spatiotemporal variations of the water masses from the Bering Sea with changes in nutrient concentrations. To improve water mass analysis in the shelf regions of the Bering and Chukchi Seas, we observed levels of humic‐like fluorescent organic matter (FOMH) by using an in situ fluorometer directly connected to a temperature‐salinity sensor during a cruise in the early summer of 2013 and evaluated the potential of FOMH as a third parameter of water mass analysis. The levels of FOMH were different among specific water masses in the region, and FOMH seemed to behave semiconservatively in the shelf regions of the Bering and Chukchi Seas during the early summer of 2013. The distributional pattern of FOMH implies that FOMH estimated by the in situ fluorometer has the potential to (1) separate warm water into riverine‐affected Alaskan Coastal Water and historically photobleached summer Bering Basin Water; (2) distinguish the Anadyr Water, which has low FOMH levels and high nutrient concentrations, from the Bering Shelf Water; and (3) determine different formation/modification processes of dense shelf water that contains high nutrient concentrations.