Distribution of the primary production and chlorophyll a in the Kara Sea in September of 2007

Abstract

The studies were performed from September 10 to 29 of 2007 in the Kara Sea in transects westward of the Yamal Peninsula, near the St. Anna Trough, in the Ob River’s estuary, and on the adjacent shelf. The concentration of chlorophyll a in the euphotic layer changed from 0.02 to 4.37 mg/m3, amounting on the average to 0.76 mg/m3. The primary production in the water column varied from 10.9 to 148.0 mg C/m2 per day (the mean was 56.9 mg C/m2 per day). It was shown that frontal zones divided the Kara Sea into distinct areas with different productivities. The maximum levels of the primary production were measured in the deep part of the Yamal transect (132.4 mg C/m2 per day) and the shallow Kara Sea shelf near the Ob River’s estuary (74.9 mg C/m2 per day). The characteristics of these regions were the low salinity of the surface water layer (19–25 psu) and the elevated silicon content (12.8–28.1 μg-atom Si/l), which is explainable by the river water inflow. The frontal zones of the Yamal Current in the Yamal and Ob transects displayed high values of the assimilation numbers, amounting to 2.32 and 1.49 mg C/mg of chlorophyll per h, respectively (the maximal for the studied regions).