Floating Ice-Algal Aggregates below melting Arctic Sea Ice
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https://hdl.handle.net/10037/5976Date
2013Type
Journal articleTidsskriftartikkel
Peer reviewed
Author
Assmy, P; Ehn, Jens K.; Fernandez-Mendez, M; Hop, H; Katlein, C; Sundfjord, Arild; Bluhm, K; Daase, Malin; Engel, A.; Fransson, A.; Granskog, M.A.; Hudson, SR; Kristiansen, Svein; Nicolaus, M.; Peeken, I.; Renner, AHH; Spreen, Gunnar; Tatarek, Agnieszka; Wiktor, JosefAbstract
During two consecutive cruises to the Eastern Central Arctic in late summer 2012, we observed floating algal
aggregates in the melt-water layer below and between melting ice floes of first-year pack ice. The macroscopic (1-15
cm in diameter) aggregates had a mucous consistency and were dominated by typical ice-associated pennate
diatoms embedded within the mucous matrix. Aggregates maintained buoyancy and accumulated just above a strong
pycnocline that separated meltwater and seawater layers. We were able, for the first time, to obtain quantitative
abundance and biomass estimates of these aggregates. Although their biomass and production on a square metre
basis was small compared to ice-algal blooms, the floating ice-algal aggregates supported high levels of biological
activity on the scale of the individual aggregate. In addition they constituted a food source for the ice-associated
fauna as revealed by pigments indicative of zooplankton grazing, high abundance of naked ciliates, and ice
amphipods associated with them. During the Arctic melt season, these floating aggregates likely play an important
ecological role in an otherwise impoverished near-surface sea ice environment. Our findings provide important
observations and measurements of a unique aggregate-based habitat during the 2012 record sea ice minimum year.
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)Citation
PLoS ONE (2013), vol. 8(10): e76599Metadata
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