The Autonomous Polar Productivity Sampling System (APPSS)

Michael Steele, University of Washington, mas@apl.washington.edu
Dana Swift, University of Washington, swift@ocean.washington.edu
Steve Riser, University of Washington, riser@ocean.washington.edu
Patricia Matrai, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Science, pmatrai@bigelow.org (Presenter)

We examine the long-term, seasonal variability of chlorophyll fluorescence, backscatter, nitrate and dissolved oxygen concentrations, temperature, and salinity as a function of changes in sea ice cover and stratification measured in the Greenland Sea in summer 2011, using an APPSS profiling ARGO float. Such APPSS/ARGO floats cycle between 1000 m depth and the surface, while avoiding sea ice. Buoyancy management is essential in order to overcome the extreme range of density that can be encountered when very fresh surface waters are layered above deeper, normally saline waters, especially in the western Arctic Ocean. The sensors on the APPSS float include an angled Iridium antenna; Wetlabs FLBB fluorometer/ backscatter sensors (700 nm; 470/695 nm); an ISUS nitrate sensor; a Seabird CTD; and an Aanderaa optode O ₂ sensor.

This combination of sensors will allow time series of warming, stratification/mixed layer depth, estimated phytoplankton biomass and derived primary production, as well as to estimate seasonal new production and net community production. The paucity of existing primary production data in the Arctic Ocean as a whole, in space and time, and the difficulty of obtaining higher frequency data by expensive and infrequent ship-based measurements beg for a field based approach that is complementary to, and supportive of, cloud and ice limited satellite measurements.

Presentation Type:  Poster

Session:  Global Change Impact & Vulnerability   (Tue 11:30 AM)

Associated Project(s): 

• Steele, Michael: The Autonomous Polar Productivity Sampling System (APPSS) ...details

Poster Location ID: 229