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Low Primary Productivity in the Chukchi Sea Controlled by Warm Pacific Water: A Data-Model Fusion Study

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Remote Sensing of the Changing Oceans

Abstract

The Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) has identified a broad low chlorophyll-a (chl-a) area in the Chukchi Sea since 2002. High sea surface temperature from 2002 (more than 5°C), which resulted in a long duration of open water, was also detected by satellite. An intensified ocean color front at the southwest Chukchi Sea near the Siberian Coast indicates nutrient depletion in the Alaska Coastal Current and its branches. A low chl-a area started to emerge in the Hope Valley in June, and then expanded to the Herald Shoal and Hanna Shoal during July and August. The evolution pattern of low chl-a area is consistent with the variability of the pathway of the Pacific water simulated by a Coupled Ice-Ocean Model (CIOM). These results suggest that the summer phytoplankton bloom from 2002 to 2005 was suppressed by the dominance of warm nutrient-poor water from the Pacific, and by the deepening of the surface mixed layer by strong wind stress. During the summer of 2004, a phytoplankton bloom was detected at the ice edge when the sea surface wind field was relatively calm. Our results imply that the ice-edge bloom was induced due to weak wind speeds, which produce shallower upper mixed layer, favoring the ice-edge bloom.

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Acknowledgements

A part of this study is supported by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) through the program of Arctic Research projects using the IARC (International Arctic Research Center)-JAXA Information System (IJIS). J.W. and K.M. also appreciate support from the RUSALCA Modeling Project of the NOAA Office of Arctic Research. The manuscript contents are solely the opinions of the authors and do not constitute a statement of policy, decision, or position on behalf of NOAA or the U. S. Government. This is GLERL contribution 1552.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ocean Sciences, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, 4-5-7, Kounan, Minato-ku, 108-8477, Tokyo, Japan

    Kohei Mizobata

  2. NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL), 4840 S. State Road, 48108, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Jia Wang

  3. School of Natural Resources and Environment, Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Haoguo Hu

  4. Hainan Marine Development and Design Institute, Hainan, China

    Daoru Wang

Authors
  1. Kohei Mizobata
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  2. Jia Wang
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  3. Haoguo Hu
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  4. Daoru Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jia Wang .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Enviro, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology,, No.164 West Xingang Road, Guangzhou, 510301, China, People's Republic

    DanLing Tang

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Mizobata, K., Wang, J., Hu, H., Wang, D. (2011). Low Primary Productivity in the Chukchi Sea Controlled by Warm Pacific Water: A Data-Model Fusion Study. In: Tang, D. (eds) Remote Sensing of the Changing Oceans. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-16541-2_12

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