Genesis and spatial distribution of suspended particulate matter concentrations in the Kara Sea during maximum reduction of the Arctic ice sheet

Abstract

The suspended particulate matter (SPM) distribution in the water column of the Kara Sea including the Ob and Yenisei river estuaries was investigated in September 2007 and 2011, i.e., during periods of the maximum reduction of drift ice in the Arctic Ocean. The increased SPM concentrations in the surface layer of the Ob Estuary (26 and 16 mg/L on average in the fresh and saline (3–10 psu) water, respectively) were revealed in 2007 as compared with its values available from previous publications. The SPM concentrations and share of the terrigenous component in the latter in the Ob Estuary (2007) was =10 times higher than in the estuary of the Yenisei River (2011). The SPM concentration decreased exponentially in response to fresh and saline water mixing in the marginal filter (MF) areas of these rivers. The main transformation of the SPM composition at the transition from estuary to shelf waters took place within the salinity frontal zone (coagulation and sorption stage of the MF). The impact of terrigenous material on marine SPM composition in 2011 decreased in the northerly direction. The anomalous desalination of the sea surface layer in 2007 resulted in significant lightening of the organic carbon isotopic composition in the western part of the Kara Sea. This means that the impact of terrigenous material on SPM composition insignificantly decreased in the northerly direction. It was shown that mineral matter was distributed from the northeastern extremity of the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago in the northeasterly direction. At the same time, mineral particles transported by rivers from West and East Siberia prevail in the terrigenous SPM constituent in the Kara Sea up to 76°30′ N. Our data indicated that the processes of cross-shelf SPM transport in the Kara Sea were controlled by bottom topography.