Sea ice and wind: Effects on primary productivity in the Barents Sea

Abstract

The Barents Sea is divided into a northern and a southern part by the Polar Front (at about 75–76° N) where Atlantic waters descend under Arctic waters. Near to and north of the Polar Front, the spring bloom of phytoplankton is triggered by the stability induced in the upper 20 m by the melting of ice. The pycnocline is too strong to be eroded by wind. Primary productivity after the bloom is therefore small and largely regenerative. Underneath the pycnocline there is a 3–5 m thick layer characterized by dense, slow‐growing algal populations. New productivity north of the Polar Front is no more than 40 g C m^?2 a^?1.

In permanently open waters south of the Polar Front, the spring bloom starts in early May. Rhythmic wind‐induced mixing related to the atmospheric low‐pressure belt reaches an average 40–60 m depth in the growth season, and secondary phytoplankton maxima may arise. As a result, new annual productivity is more than doubled, i.e. 90 g C m^?2 a^?1, relative to the same system without wind. Although productivity is highest south of the Polar Front, it is more concentrated north of it, in the sense that high new production is mainly related to a 20–50 km wide belt that sweeps the area following the ice edge northwards while the ice melts through the summer.