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1. Borealization of nearshore fishes on an interior Arctic shelf over multiple decades

   https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16576  

   von Biela, Vanessa R.; Laske, Sarah M.; Stanek, Ashley E.; Brown, Randy J.; Dunton, Kenneth H. (April 2023, Global Change Biology)
2. A Conceptual Investigation of Transition to Self‐Driven Turbidity Currents From Along‐Shelf Current‐Supported Turbidity Currents

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JF007265  

   Ozdemir, Celalettin E.; Yue, Liangyi; Nazari, Haq Murad; Xue, George; Bentley, Samuel J.; Yang, Shuo; Hofioni, Sayed O.; Forney, Robert; Aradpour, Saber (August 2023, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface)

   Abstract Wave‐ and current‐supported turbidity currents (WCSTCs) are one of the sediment delivery mechanisms from the inner shelf to the shelf break. Therefore, they play a significant role in the global cycles of geo‐chemically important particulate matter. Recent observations suggest that WCSTCs can transform into self‐driven turbidity currents close to the continental margin. However, little is known regarding the critical conditions that grow self‐driven turbidity currents out of WCSTCs. This is in part due to the knowledge gaps in the dynamics of WCSTCs regarding the role of density stratification. Especially the effect of sediment entrainment on the amount of sediment suspension has been overlooked. To this end, this study revisits the existing theoretical framework for a simplified WCSTC, in which waves are absent, that is, along‐shelf current‐supported turbidity current. A depth‐integrated advection model is developed for suspended sediment concentration. The model results, which are verified by turbulence‐resolving simulations, indicate that the amount of suspended sediment load is regulated by the equilibrium among positive/negative feedback between entrainment and cross‐shelf gravity force/density stratification, and settling flux dissociated with density stratification. It is also found that critical density stratification is not a necessary condition for equilibrium. A quantitative relation is developed for the critical conditions for self‐driven turbidity currents, which is a function of bed shear stress, entrainment parameters, bed slope, and sediment settling velocity. In addition, the suspended sediment load is analytically estimated from the model developed. 

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3. Arctic lagoon and nearshore food webs: Relative contributions of terrestrial organic matter, phytoplankton, and phytobenthos vary with consumer foraging dynamics

   https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2021.107388  

   McMahon, Kelton W; Ambrose, William G.; Reynolds, Melinda J.; Johnson, Beverly; Whiting, A.; Clough, Lisa M. (May 2021, Estuarine coastal and shelf science)

   null (Ed.)

   Characterizing energy flow and trophic linkages is fundamental to understanding the functioning and resilience of Arctic ecosystems under increasing pressure from climate change and anthropogenic exploitation. We used carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes to examine trophic dynamics and the relative contribution of terrestrial organic matter, water column phytoplankton, and phytobenthos (benthic micro- and macro-autotrophs as well as sea ice algae) to the food webs supporting 45 macroconsumers in three Arctic coastal lagoon ecosystems (Krusenstern, Sisualik, Akulaaq) and the adjacent Kotzebue Sound with varying degrees of connectivity in Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Alaska. A two-source (water column particulate organic matter and benthic sediment organic matter), two-isotope trophic dynamics model informed by a Bayesian isotope mixing model revealed that the Lagoon-Kotzebue Sound coastal ecosystem supported consumers along a trophic position continuum from primary consumers, including amphipods, copepods, and clams to trophic level five predators, such as seastars, piscivorous fishes, seals, and seabirds. The relative contribution of the three primary producer end members, terrestrial organic matter (41 ± 21%), phytoplankton (25 ± 21%), and phytobenthos (34 ± 23%) varied as a function of: 1) consumer foraging ecology and 2) consumer location. Suspension feeders received most of their carbon from food webs based on phytoplankton (49 ± 11%) and terrestrial organic matter (23 ± 5%), whereas herbivores and detritivores received the majority of their carbon from phytobenthos-based food webs, 58 ± 10% and 60 ± 8%, respectively. Omnivores and predators showed more even distributions of resource reliance and greater overall variance among species. Within the invertebrates, the importance of terrestrial organic matter decreased and phytobenthos increased with increasing trophic position. The importance of terrestrial organic matter contribution increased with lagoon proximity to major rivers inputs and isolation from Kotzebue Sound. Several taxa with cultural and subsistence food importance to local communities showed significant reliance (30–90% of baseline carbon) on food chains linked to fresh terrestrial organic matter. Our study indicates that terrestrial-marine linkages are important to the function of Arctic coastal lagoon ecosystems and artisanal fisheries. These linkages are likely to strengthen in the future with regional changes in erosion and runoff associated with climate change and anthropogenic disturbance. 

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4. Can turbidity improve underwater optical imaging in occlusion?

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.566955  

   Huang, Yinuo; Krishnan, Gokul; Javidi, Bahram (July 2025, Optics Express)

   It is generally assumed that oceanic effects, such as absorption, scattering, and turbulence, deteriorate underwater optical imaging and/or signal detection. In this paper, we present an interesting observation that slight turbidity may actually improve the performance of underwater optical imaging in the presence of occlusion. We have carried out simulations and optical experiments in underwater degraded environments to investigate this hypothesis. For simulation, the Monte Carlo method was used to analyze the influence of imaging performance under varying turbidity and occlusion conditions. Additionally, optical experiments were conducted under various turbid and partially occluded environments. We considered the effects of different parameters such as varying turbidity levels, severity of partial occlusion, number of photons, propagation distances, and imaging modality. The simulation results we performed suggest that, regardless of the variation of the imaging system and degradation parameters, slight turbidity may improve underwater imaging performance in occlusion. The optical experimental results are also in agreement with the simulation results that slightly increasing the turbidity levels may boost the image quality in the scenarios we considered. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to theoretically analyze and experimentally validate the phenomenon that turbidity may improve underwater imaging performance in certain degraded environments. 

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5. Constrained nearshore larval distributions and thermal stratification

   https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12561  

   Hagerty, ML; Reyns, N; Pineda, J (May 2018, Marine Ecology Progress Series)