Fig. 8: Schematic contrasting the Meltwater Regime (left) and the Mixed Layer Regime (right). | Nature Communications

Fig. 8: Schematic contrasting the Meltwater Regime (left) and the Mixed Layer Regime (right).

From: Sea-ice derived meltwater stratification slows the biological carbon pump: results from continuous observations

Fig. 8

The dashed line at 30 m indicates the primary depth of our physical–biogeochemical observations. In addition, we had water column observations in 55 m, 265 m, ADCPs, sediment traps in 200 m and 1200 m, as well as and benthic observations (lander and crawler). We identified two types of surface stratification regimes that resulted in different bloom dynamics and different patterns and rates of carbon export (Table 1). Near-ice, meltwater-stratified waters (MW: meltwater regime observed in 2017 on left) hosted vertically constrained, longer duration blooms, while waters further from the ice edge (ML: mixed layer regime observed in 2018 on right) hosted higher biomass (m−2) and shorter, more intense pulses of export carrying significant quantities of algal detritus to the seafloor, which supported higher megafauna densities.

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