IEDA
Project Information
Collaborate Research:Modified Circumpolar Deep Water Intrusions as an Iron Source to the Summer Ross Sea Ecosystem
Start Date:
2009-09-01
End Date:
2013-08-31
Description/Abstract
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

An interdisciplinary team of researchers will focus on describing the high productivity patchiness observed in phytoplankton blooms in the mid to late summer in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. Key hypotheses to be tested and extended are that intrusions of nutrient and micro nutrient (e.g. Fe) rich water masses of the Antarctic modified circumpolar deep water (CDW) up onto continental shelves act to control the biogeochemical response of a large area of the productive Ross Sea coastal region. It is believed that this enhanced productivity may be a significant contributing factor to the global carbon cycle.

A novel sampling strategy to be used to test the above hypotheses will employ a remotely controlled deep (1000m) glider (AUV) to locate and map CDW in near real time measuring C (conductivity), T (temperature), D (pressure) and apparent optical properties, and which will serve to direct further ship-based sampling.

The adaptive coordination of a polar research vessel with an AUV additionally provides an opportunity to engage in formal and informal education and public outreach on issues in polar research.
Personnel
Person Role
Kohut, Josh Investigator
Funding
Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences Award # 0839039
AMD - DIF Record(s)
Deployment
Deployment Type
NBP1101 ship expedition
Data Management Plan
None in the Database
Product Level:
Not provided
Publications
  1. Kustka, A. B., Jones, B. M., Hatta, M., Field, M. P., & Milligan, A. J. (2015). The influence of iron and siderophores on eukaryotic phytoplankton growth rates and community composition in the Ross Sea. Marine Chemistry, 173, 195–207. (doi:10.1016/j.marchem.2014.12.002)
  2. Kustka, A. B., Kohut, J. T., White, A. E., Lam, P. J., Milligan, A. J., Dinniman, M. S., … Measures, C. I. (2015). The roles of MCDW and deep water iron supply in sustaining a recurrent phytoplankton bloom on central Pennell Bank (Ross Sea). Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 105, 171–185. (doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2015.08.012)
  3. Carvalho, F., Kohut, J., Oliver, M. J., & Schofield, O. (2017). Defining the ecologically relevant mixed‐layer depth for Antarctica’s coastal seas. Geophysical Research Letters, 44(1), 338–345. (doi:10.1002/2016gl071205)
Platforms and Instruments

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