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Title: From sea ice to seals: a moored marine ecosystem observatory in the Arctic
Abstract. Although Arctic marine ecosystems are changing rapidly,year-round monitoring is currently very limited and presents multiplechallenges unique to this region. The Chukchi Ecosystem Observatory (CEO)described here uses new sensor technologies to meet needs for continuous,high-resolution, and year-round observations across all levels of theecosystem in the biologically productive and seasonally ice-covered ChukchiSea off the northwest coast of Alaska. This mooring array records a broadsuite of variables that facilitate observations, yielding betterunderstanding of physical, chemical, and biological couplings, phenologies,and the overall state of this Arctic shelf marine ecosystem. While coldtemperatures and 8 months of sea ice cover present challenging conditions forthe operation of the CEO, this extreme environment also serves as a rigoroustest bed for innovative ecosystem monitoring strategies. Here, we presentdata from the 2015–2016 CEO deployments that provide new perspectives on theseasonal evolution of sea ice, water column structure, and physicalproperties, annual cycles in nitrate, dissolved oxygen, phytoplankton blooms,and export, zooplankton abundance and vertical migration, the occurrence ofArctic cod, and vocalizations of marine mammals such as bearded seals. Theseintegrated ecosystem observations are being combined with ship-basedobservations and modeling to produce a time series that documents biologicalcommunity responses to changing seasonal sea ice and water temperatures whileestablishing a scientific basis for ecosystem management.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1702456
PAR ID:
10113928
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Ocean Science
Volume:
14
Issue:
6
ISSN:
1812-0792
Page Range / eLocation ID:
1423 to 1433
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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