IEDA
Project Information
WAPflux - New Tools to Study the Fate of Phytoplankton Production in the West Antarctic Peninsula
Program:
LTER
Description/Abstract
Abstract


By using a tool-box of particle flux and characterization techniques appropriate to the study of particulate organic carbon fluxes out of the upper sunlit zone, WHOI researchers will attempt to evaluate the so called 'biological pump' term at the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research (PAL) site in the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). The goal of these measurements is to describe the seasonal dynamics of production, export (sinking) and at-depth remineralization rates of organic matter produced in the Antarctic photic zone. This should lead to a better understanding of the biogeochemical controls on the carbon cycle in this difficult to access region. Additionally, how much of the newly fixed organic carbon is exported off the shelf, effectively driving an influx of atmospheric (including anthropogenic) CO2 to be sequestered into the deep ocean is not presently known. Comparison of prior time series sediment traps in the WAP seem to indicate smaller sinking C fluxes than other, as equally as productive Antarctic coastal regions, e.g. the Ross Sea. New observations and modeling activities will attempt to explain this discrepancy, and to account for the apparently inefficient particle export.


"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."
Personnel
Person Role
Buesseler, Ken Investigator
Valdes, James Co-Investigator
Funding
Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences Award # 0838866
AMD - DIF Record(s)
Data Management Plan
None in the Database
Product Level:
Not provided
Datasets
Repository Title (link) Format(s) Status
LTER data deposited with Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) repository. None bad_url
Platforms and Instruments

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