Seasonal variations in Arctic sediment dynamics—evidence from 1-year records in the Laptev Sea (Siberian Arctic)

Abstract

Sediment dynamics on the Laptev Sea shelf (Siberian Arctic), which is ice-covered for about 9 months a year, were studied for a 1-year period. Two oceanographic bottom-mooring stations equipped with an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) and a Conductivity Temperature Depth meter (CTD) were deployed on the eastern Laptev Sea shelf between August 1998 and September 1999. Thus, for the first time information on current, suspended particulate matter (SPM), and bottom temperature variations were provided throughout one seasonal cycle for a Siberian shelf sea. The data set indicates that during and shortly after the river-ice breakup (June–early July) sediment transport is dominated by riverine input and transport onto the eastern Laptev Sea shelf within the surface layer beneath the fast ice. Under ice-free conditions (mid-July to September), SPM is mainly trapped on the eastern Laptev Sea shelf. SPM discharged by the Lena River is transported within the surface layer to the mid-shelf where it sinks through the water column into the bottom nepheloid layer only to be carried back onto the inner shelf again together with newly resuspended bottom material. On the inner shelf the material is partly transported back into the surface layer by turbid mixing and carried out onto the mid-shelf again. During freeze-up (October), SPM in the surface layer on the inner shelf is incorporated into newly formed ice and transported with the ice over the continental margin into the deep Arctic Ocean. Beneath the ice cover (November to June–July) SPM slowly sinks and sediment transport is of minor importance on the inner shelf. However, beneath the polynya, bottom material is resuspended during storm events and transported onto the inner shelf where it temporarily settles. The study suggests a quasi-estuarine sediment circulation on the eastern Laptev Sea shelf, especially during ice-free conditions, and sediment export dominated by ice rather than bottom transport.