Meridional Zonation of the Barents Sea Ecosystem Inferred from Satellite RemoteSensing and In situ Bio-Optical Observations

摘要

The Barents Sea is a productive, shallow, high latitude marine ecosystem withcomplex hydrographic conditions. Zonal hydrographic bands defined by a coastal current, North Atlantic water, the polar front and the seasonally variable marginal ice edge zone create a meridional zonation of the ecosystem during the spring summer transition. The features reveal themselves in satellite imagery and by high resolution (vertical and horizontal) physical optical biological sampling. Surprisingly, the long-term (7 year) mean of Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) imagery reveals the Barents Sea as an anomalous 'blue water' regime at high latitudes that are otherwise dominated by satellite observed surface blooms. A combination of satellite imagery and in situ bio-optical analyses indicate that this pattern is caused by strong stratification in summer with surface nutrient depletion.