Phytoplankton spring bloom in Baffin Bay, detailed study of physical, chemical and biological processes, and modeling of present and future primary production and carbon fluxes
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Phytoplankton spring bloom in Baffin Bay, detailed study of physical, chemical and biological processes, and modeling of present and future primary production and carbon fluxes

In the Arctic Ocean the phytoplankton spring bloom (PSB) develops around the ice-edge in the seasonal ice zone (SIZ). This process lasts about 3 weeks and accounts for most of the annual primary production (PP) in the Arctic Ocean. The SIZ is currently increasing in size and may cover the entire Arctic Ocean as of the 2030s, possibly leading to enhanced PSBs and therefore primary production (PP). Recently, the PP of the Arctic ocean has increased by 20% and this has started to modify the Arctic food web and ecosystem, as well as carbon exchange between the atmosphere, the ocean and marine sediments. A critical question to understand is how Arctic PP will evolve in the future, and this requires a detailed understanding of the processes involved in the PSB. Within a large project that will also involve ship cruises and remote sensing, we propose here to perform detailed biological, chemical and physical measurements of the PSB from an ice camp in Baffin Bay to gain an unprecedented detailed understanding of the processes involved. This will allow the detailed modeling of the evolution of the Arctic PP and of the related carbon fluxes.