Feature Publication Archive
Mordy, C.W., A. Devol, L.B. Eisner, N. Kachel, C. Ladd, M.W. Lomas, P. Proctor, R.N. Sambrotto, D.H. Shull, P.J. Stabeno, and E. Wisegarver (2017): Nutrient and phytoplankton dynamics on the inner shelf of the eastern Bering Sea. J. Geophys. Res., 122(3), 2422–2440, doi: 10.1002/2016JC012071.
In the Bering Sea, the nitrogen cycle near Nunivak Island is complicated due to limited nutrient replenishment across this broad shelf, and substantial nitrogen loss through sedimentary processes. While diffusion at the inner front may periodically support new production, the inner shelf in this region is generally described as a regenerative system. This study combines hydrographic surveys with measurements of nitrogen assimilation and benthic fluxes to examine nitrogen cycling on the inner shelf, and connectivity between the middle and inner shelves of the southern and central Bering Sea... more »
Van Pelt, T.I., J.M. Napp, C.J. Ashjan, H.R. Harvey, M.W. Lomas, M.F. Sigler, and P.J. Stabeno (2016): An introduction and overview of the Bering Sea Project: Volume IV. Deep-Sea Res. II, 134, 3–12, doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2016.09.002.
“…the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the North Pacific Research Board (NPRB) created a novel partnership in 2007 to support an ecosystem-scale study to examine how a changing climate and changing sea-ice conditions affect the EBS ecosystem, from physics and chemistry to lower trophic level organisms (e.g., plankton) to humans. The “Bering Sea Project” integrated two major research programs, the NSF-funded Bering Ecosystem Study (BEST) and the NPRB-funded Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Program (BSIERP... more »
Studying where some of the smallest organisms in the ocean are located can be difficult when they are found beneath the surface. In the late summer and early fall, phytoplankton in the Chukchi Sea are usually found in thin, patchy layers that can only be observed using shipboard surveys. In a collaborative effort between PMEL’s EcoFOCI group and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, scientists were able to map the distribution of subsurface phytoplankton using a novel high-resolution towed instrument platform. A significant fraction of the phytoplankton biomass is contained in these layers,... more »
Bond, N.A., M.F. Cronin, H. Freeland, and N. Mantua (2015): Causes and impacts of the 2014 warm anomaly in the NE Pacific. Geophys. Res. Lett., 42(9), 3414–3420, doi:10.1002/2015GL063306.
Remarkably high sea surface temperature anomalies developed in the NE Pacific Ocean during the winter of 2013/14. This caught the attention of Nick Bond of the University of Washington’s Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO)—who started calling the mass of warm water the “Blob”—and Meghan Cronin of NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL). Their objective was to determine the relative importance of the various upper ocean temperatures that could have been responsible for this short-term climate event.
As detailed in this recent article... more »
Chen, K., L. Ciannelli, M.B. Decker, C. Ladd, W. Cheng, Z. Zhou, and K.-S. Chan (2014): Reconstructing source-sink dynamics in a population with a pelagic dispersal phase. PLoS ONE, 9(5), e95316, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0095316.
Many marine species have a larval phase. In this phase, larvae drifts with the prevailing ocean currents before settling in nursery locations. In such cases, the spawning locations can be represented as sources and the settling locations of the juvenile or adult stages as sinks. Population connectivity and directionality of flow between sources and sinks can have important implications for management and conservation. The reconstruction of source-sink dynamics is often hampered by limited knowledge of the spatial distribution of either the source or sink components or lack of information... more »