Chemical oceanography of the Arctic and its shelf seas

Abstract. The first (and second) baroclinic deformation (or Rossby) radii are presented north of ~60° N, focusing on deep basins and shelf seas in the high Arctic Ocean, the Nordic seas, Baffin Bay, Hudson Bay and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, derived from climatological ocean data. In the high Arctic Ocean, the first Rossby radius increases from ~5 km in the Nansen Basin to ~15 km in the central Canadian Basin. In the shelf seas and elsewhere, values are low (1–7 km), reflecting weak density stratification, shallow water, or both. Seasonality strongly impacts the Rossby radius only in shallow seas, where winter homogenization of the water column can reduce it to below 1 km. Greater detail is seen in the output from an ice–ocean general circulation model, of higher resolution than the climatology. To assess the impact of secular variability, 10 years (2003–2012) of hydrographic stations along 150° W in the Beaufort Gyre are also analysed. The first-mode Rossby radius increases over this period by ~20%. Finally, we review the observed scales of Arctic Ocean eddies.

Download Full-text

Chemical Oceanography of the Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Seas ◽

10.1007/978-1-4613-0677-1_3 ◽

1989 ◽

pp. 93-114 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Leif Anderson ◽

David Dyrssen

Keyword(s):

Arctic Ocean ◽

The Arctic ◽

The Arctic Ocean ◽

Chemical Oceanography

Download Full-text

Characteristics of the Russian shelf seas in the Arctic Ocean regarding the content of heavy minerals in surface sediments: new data

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-1166 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Elena Popova

Keyword(s):

Arctic Ocean ◽

Environmental Science ◽

Barents Sea ◽

Source Rocks ◽

Heavy Minerals ◽

The Arctic ◽

Arctic Seas ◽

Riverine Input ◽

The Arctic Ocean ◽

Shelf Seas

Such factors as climate, currents, morphology, riverine input, and the source rocks influence the composition of the sediments in the Arctic Ocean. Heavy minerals being quite inert in terms of transport can reflect the geology of the source rock clearly and indicate the riverine input. There is a long history of studying the heavy mineral composition of the sediments in the Arctic Ocean. The works by Vogt (1997), Kosheleva (1999), Stein (2008), and others study the distribution of the minerals both on a sea scale and oceanwide. The current study covers Russian shelf seas: Barents, Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, and Chukchi Seas. To collect the material several data sources were used: data collected by the institute VNIIOkeangeologia during numerous expeditions since 2000 for mapping the shelf, data from the old expedition reports (earlier than 2000) taken from the geological funds, and datasets from PANGAEA (www.pangaea.de). About 82 minerals and groups of minerals were included in the joint dataset. The density of the sample points varied significantly in all seas: 1394 data points in the Barents Sea, 713 in the Kara Sea, 487 in the Laptev Sea, 196 in the East Siberian Sea, and 245 in the Chukchi Sea. These data allowed comparing the areas in terms of major minerals and associations. Maps of prevailing and significant components were created in ODV (Schlitzer, 2020) to demonstrate the differences between the seas and indicate the sites of remarkable changes in the source rocks. Additionally, the standardized ratio was calculated to perform quantitative comparison: the sea average was divided by the weighted sea average and then the ratio of that number to the mineral average was found. Only the minerals present in at least four seas and amounting to at least 20 points per sea were considered. As a result, water areas with the highest content of particular minerals were detected. The ratio varied from 0 to 3,4. Combining the ratio data for various minerals allowed mapping specific groups or provinces for every sea and within the seas.&#160;Kosheleva, V.A., & Yashin, D.S. (1999). Bottom Sediments of the Arctic Seas. St. Petersburg: VNIIOkeangeologia, 286pp. (in Russian).PANGAEA. Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science https://www.pangaea.de/Schlitzer, R. (2020). Ocean Data View, Retrieved from https://odv.awi.de.Stein, R. (2008). Arctic Ocean Sediments: Processes, Proxies, and Paleoenvironment. Oxford: Elsevier, 602pp.Vogt, C. (1997). Regional and temporal variations of mineral assemblages in Arctic Ocean sediments as a climatic indicator during glacial/interglacial changes. Berichte Zur Polarforschung, 251, 309pp.

Download Full-text

Coastal ocean and shelf-sea biogeochemical cycling of trace elements and isotopes: lessons learned from GEOTRACES

Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences ◽

10.1098/rsta.2016.0076 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 374 (2081) ◽

pp. 20160076 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Matthew A. Charette ◽

Phoebe J. Lam ◽

Maeve C. Lohan ◽

Eun Young Kwon ◽

Vanessa Hatje ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Trace Element ◽

River Estuary ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

The Arctic ◽

Shelf Sediment ◽

Continental Shelves ◽

Basin Scale ◽

Shelf Seas ◽

Coastal Margin ◽

Shelf Sea

Continental shelves and shelf seas play a central role in the global carbon cycle. However, their importance with respect to trace element and isotope (TEI) inputs to ocean basins is less well understood. Here, we present major findings on shelf TEI biogeochemistry from the GEOTRACES programme as well as a proof of concept for a new method to estimate shelf TEI fluxes. The case studies focus on advances in our understanding of TEI cycling in the Arctic, transformations within a major river estuary (Amazon), shelf sediment micronutrient fluxes and basin-scale estimates of submarine groundwater discharge. The proposed shelf flux tracer is 228-radium ( T 1/2 = 5.75 yr), which is continuously supplied to the shelf from coastal aquifers, sediment porewater exchange and rivers. Model-derived shelf 228 Ra fluxes are combined with TEI/ 228 Ra ratios to quantify ocean TEI fluxes from the western North Atlantic margin. The results from this new approach agree well with previous estimates for shelf Co, Fe, Mn and Zn inputs and exceed published estimates of atmospheric deposition by factors of approximately 3–23. Lastly, recommendations are made for additional GEOTRACES process studies and coastal margin-focused section cruises that will help refine the model and provide better insight on the mechanisms driving shelf-derived TEI fluxes to the ocean. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Biological and climatic impacts of ocean trace element chemistry’.

Download Full-text

The North-West European Shelf Seas: The Sea Bed and the Sea in Motion, II. Physical and Chemical Oceanography, and Physical Resources

Sedimentary Geology ◽

10.1016/0037-0738(83)90023-4 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 65-66

Author(s):

Graham Evans

Keyword(s):

North West ◽

The North ◽

Sea Bed ◽

Physical Resources ◽

European Shelf ◽

Chemical Oceanography ◽

Shelf Seas ◽

Physical And Chemical ◽

West European

Download Full-text

The Middle Jurassic of western and northern Europe: its subdivisions, geochronology and correlations

Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin ◽

10.34194/geusb.v1.4648 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 61-73 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

John H. Callomon

Keyword(s):

North Sea ◽

Middle Jurassic ◽

The Arctic ◽

The South ◽

Temperate Latitude ◽

The North ◽

Biotic Diversity ◽

The Pacific ◽

Shelf Seas ◽

Two Factors

The palaeogeographic settings of Denmark and East Greenland during the Middle Jurassic are outlined. They lay in the widespread epicontinental seas that covered much of Europe in the post-Triassic transgression. It was a period of continuing eustatic sea-level rise, with only distant connections to world oceans: to the Pacific, via the narrow Viking Straits between Greenland and Norway and hence the arctic Boreal Sea to the north; and to the subtropical Tethys, via some 1200 km of shelf-seas to the south. The sedimentary history of the region was strongly influenced by two factors: tectonism and climate. Two modes of tectonic movement governed basinal evolution: crustal extension leading to subsidence through rifting, such as in the Viking and Central Grabens of the North Sea; and subcrustal thermal upwelling, leading to domal uplift and the partition of marine basins through emergent physical barriers, as exemplified by the Central North Sea Dome with its associated volcanics. The climatic gradient across the 30º of temperate latitude spanned by the European seas governed biotic diversity and biogeography, finding expression in rock-forming biogenic carbonates that dominate sediments in the south and give way to largely siliciclastic sediments in the north. Geochronology of unrivalled finesse is provided by standard chronostratigraphy based on the biostratigraphy of ammonites. The Middle Jurassic saw the onset of considerable bioprovincial endemisms in these guide-fossils, making it necessary to construct parallel standard zonations for Boreal, Subboreal or NW European and Submediterranean Provinces, of which the NW European zonation provides the primary international standard. The current versions of these zonations are presented and reviewed.

Download Full-text

Ostracods in the sediments of the Arctic shelf seas of Eurasia (stratigraphy and paleoreconstruction)

10.29006/978-5-6045110-0-8/(9) ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 95-109

Author(s):

A.Yu. Stepanova ◽

◽

E.E. Taldenkova ◽

Keyword(s):

Environmental Parameters ◽

Atlantic Water ◽

The Arctic ◽

Initial Stage ◽

Shelf Seas ◽

Assemblage Analysis ◽

Ecological Parameters ◽

Sea Area ◽

The Relationship ◽

Stratigraphic Succession

We present data on ostracod assemblage analysis from the Laptev, Kara and White Seas in the Arctic Ocean. We established the relationship between modern ostracod distribution and environmental parameters and applied this knowledge to interpret fossil Quaternary ostracod assemblages. Data on distribution and ecological parameters for different modern Arctic and Boreal species give us an opportunity to interpret even taxonomically poor samples. Late Pleistocene-Holocene ostracod assemblages from the eastern Arctic shelves and their stratigraphic succession in the studied cores reflect the environmental transition during the gradual deepening of the sites and distance increase from the coastline during the Postglacial sea-level rise. Variations in fossil ostracod assemblages at the continental slope location suggest temporal increases in modified Atlantic water inflow, as well as point to periods of glacier meltwater and freshwater input. Late Saalian-Eemian assemblages from the White Sea area contain typical Arctic representatives as well as taxa inhabiting boreal and more southern locations and the majority of species present are known to tolerate decreased salinities. Assemblage changes reflect the transition from the initial stage of inundation, with active hydrodynamics, to stable marine conditions with subsequent warming and shallowing of the basin.

Download Full-text

Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences in Canada: An Overview

Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada ◽

10.1139/f77-111 ◽

1977 ◽

Vol 34 (5) ◽

pp. 710-727 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Keyword(s):

National Policy ◽

Technical Information ◽

Renewable Resource ◽

The Arctic ◽

Rehabilitation Programs ◽

Fisheries Resources ◽

Shelf Seas ◽

Experimental Management ◽

Aquatic Sciences ◽

National Information

Scientific requirements and priorities are identified for the management of the fisheries and aquatic resources of Canada based on a series of background studies on scientific resources, scientific and technical information, renewable resource management (shelf seas, inshore seas, fresh water, fisheries rehabilitation, aquaculture), oceanography (physical, chemical, biological), aquatic environmental quality, and renewable resource utilization. Major priorities identified were: expanded fisheries rehabilitation programs on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts; oceanography of shelf seas, including the arctic; development of a national strategy for environmental monitoring; improved coordination of work on diseases, nutrition, and genetics related to fisheries rehabilitation and aquaculture; improved coordination and apportioning of federal and industrial research and development on the utilization of fisheries resources. The following aspects of fisheries and aquatic sciences need greater accent: development of national policy on fisheries and aquatic sciences; the provision of continuity for long-term research in federal laboratories; evaluation of federally supported research programs; collaborative arrangements for ecosystem and interdisciplinary research, including the social sciences; improved federal support for research conducted in universities; development of criteria for Canadian involvement in international activities; and a national information system related to diverse user needs. The national effort on fisheries and aquatic sciences was examined in terms of functional categories (mapping, monitoring, research, experimental management, application, communication) and institutional categories (international, federal, provincial, universities, industry). The overview contains recommendations to improve the national capability in fisheries and aquatic sciences.

Download Full-text