Pelagic primary production during summer along 65 to 72°N off West Greenland

Abstract

The distribution of phytoplankton biomass and primary production were studied during summer 1993 at 16 stations from 65 to 72°N off West Greenland, ranging more than 900 km. Hydrography, nutrients and chlorophyll a profiles revealed a significant change in structure from south to north. Nitrate was depleted in the euphotic zone at most stations except close to the ice edge (West Ice) or close to outflow from large glaciers. The vertical distribution of phosphate followed that of nitrate, but was never depleted. Despite two stations with relatively high surface concentrations, silica showed the same distribution as the other two nutrients. In the south, chlorophyll a concentration and primary production were lower than north of Disko Bay (69°N), associated with a well-mixed versus a salinity-generated stratification, respectively. In Vaigat, a high-production station was identified, (st. 910, 69°52′69N–51°30′61W) with a chlorophyll a concentration in the euphotic zone of >13 μg l−1 and an area primary production of 3.2 g C m−2 day−1. This is seldom encountered in arctic waters and was presumably due to nutrient-rich melt-water originating from the Iluliissat Glacier. The overall primary production for the studied area was 67–3207 mg C m−2 day−1 (mean ± SD=341± 743 mg C m−2 day−1), which is within the range of the few results published for West Greenland and eastern Canadian Arctic waters.