Pelagic Ecosystem Characteristics Across the Atlantic Water Boundary Current From Rijpfjorden, Svalbard, to the Arctic Ocean During Summer (2010–2014)

Haakon Hop,Agneta Fransson,Malin Daase,Marta Gluchowska,Arild Sundfjord,Anette Wold,Slawomir Kwasniewski,Józef Wiktor,Mikko Vihtakari,Józef M Wiktor,Svein Kristiansen,Melissa Chierici,Agnieszka Tatarek,Pedro Duarte,Philipp Assmy

doi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00181

Abstract

This project was supported by the Centre of Ice, Climate and Ecosystems at the Norwegian Polar Institute, and partly funded by the Research Council of Norway (projects Carbon Bridge 226415 and Boom or Bust 244646). The ocean acidification studies were supported by the Ocean Acidification Flagship program within the Fram Centre, Tromso. MG position was funded by the Polish Scientific Council projects: KongHau4 (W84/KongHau4/2016) and KongHau5 (W88/KongHau5/2017). She was also supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education Outstanding Young Scientist Scholarship. AT and JW position were partly funded by Polish Scientific Council project W6/Norway/2017 and W93/Svalbard/2017.

Highlights

Svalbard is located in a transition between boreal and Arctic biogeographic zones
This is most pronounced along the west coast of Svalbard, where the West Spitsbergen Current (WSC) transports Atlantic water (AW) northwards and where its influence is well documented on both protists (Piwosz et al, 2009, 2014; Hegseth et al, 2019) and zooplankton communities (Hop et al, 2006, 2019; Svensen et al, 2011; Vogedes et al, 2014; Soltwedel et al, 2016; Gluchowska et al, 2017b; Ormanczyk et al, 2017)
As part of the ICEproject (NPI) we extended an established transect in Rijpfjorden northwards across the Atlantic and Arctic Water (ArW) masses on the shelf and continental slope to 3000 m depth in the Nansen Basin

Summary

Introduction

Svalbard is located in a transition between boreal and Arctic biogeographic zones. This is most pronounced along the west coast of Svalbard, where the West Spitsbergen Current (WSC) transports Atlantic water (AW) northwards and where its influence is well documented on both protists (Piwosz et al, 2009, 2014; Hegseth et al, 2019) and zooplankton communities (Hop et al, 2006, 2019; Svensen et al, 2011; Vogedes et al, 2014; Soltwedel et al, 2016; Gluchowska et al, 2017b; Ormanczyk et al, 2017). The pelagic ecosystem of the fjord varies seasonally (Leu et al, 2011; Weydmann et al, 2013), because of the seasonal variation in local radiation, and due to occasional inflow of Atlantic-origin water during summer to late autumn (Wallace et al, 2010)

Methods

Results

Conclusion