Physico-ecobiogeochemistry of East Antarctic pack ice during the winter-spring transition

Our study provides information on the relationships between physical, chemical, and biological properties of East Antarctic sea ice sampled as part of the Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystem eXperiment (SIPEX) during the winter-spring transition in 2007. The sampled sea ice showed a high contribution of g...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Deep-sea research. Part II, Topical studies in oceanography Topical studies in oceanography, 2011-05, Vol.58 (9), p.1172-1181
Main Authors: Meiners, Klaus M., Norman, Louiza, Granskog, Mats A., Krell, Andreas, Heil, Petra, Thomas, David N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algae
Antarctica
Biogeochemistry
Biomass
Deep sea
Deviation
Dissolution
East Antarctica
Marine
Nutrients
Salt water
Sea ice
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Our study provides information on the relationships between physical, chemical, and biological properties of East Antarctic sea ice sampled as part of the Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystem eXperiment (SIPEX) during the winter-spring transition in 2007. The sampled sea ice showed a high contribution of granular ice, indicating the turbulent conditions during sea ice formation off East Antarctica. The sea ice was cold, with brine volumes often below or very close to the theoretical percolation threshold of sea ice. Dissolved inorganic nutrient concentrations showed both positive and negative deviations from theoretical dilution lines, indicating both nutrient uptake as well as nutrient remineralisation in sea ice brines. Cold temperatures, high brine salinities, and low brine volumes limited high ice algal biomass to the warmer and more porous sea ice layers at the ice–water interface. We hypothesise that East Antarctic sea ice shows generally low ice algal biomass accumulation due to a combination of relatively low snow–loading, relatively cold ice temperatures, and short persistence of sea ice into the warm forcing regime, all of which prevent the development of significant internal and surface communities.
ISSN:0967-0645
1879-0100
DOI:10.1016/j.dsr2.2010.10.033