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Whole season net community production in the Weddell Sea

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Abstract

Depletions of total CO2, nitrate, phosphate and silicate in the surface layer were calculated for cruise ANT XXII/3 with FS Polarstern in March 2005 for estimating the annual net community production. East-west across the Weddell Sea the variation of all depletions is similar, but this holds to a lesser extent for silicate. Depletions in March 2005 are 2–3 times larger than those in January 1993 for the same transect. Very low N:P and C:P depletion ratios seem to point to dominance of diatoms, in the central Weddell Sea more than in the margin. Estimates of annual net community productions are about 1.8 and 3.5 mol C m−2 year−1 for the interior Weddell Sea and a near-margin region, respectively. The region does not comply with the classical view of a marginal ice zone with high productivity. Net community production is similar to annual export production, implying that remineralization in the ensuing winter be minor.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank captain and crew of FS Polarstern for their great support. This research was supported by the European Commission’s Sixth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, Integrated Project “CARBOOCEAN” (contract no.: 511176-2).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Climate Sciences, Postfach 120161, 27515, Bremerhaven, Germany

    Mario Hoppema & Eberhard Fahrbach

  2. Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Postbus 59, 1790 AB, Texel, The Netherlands

    Rob Middag, Hein J. W. de Baar, Evaline M. van Weerlee & Helmuth Thomas

  3. Department of Marine Biology, University of Groningen, Postbus 14, 9750 AA, Haren, The Netherlands

    Rob Middag & Hein J. W. de Baar

  4. Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Canada Research Chair, 1355 Oxford Street, Halifax, NS, Canada, B3H 4J1

    Helmuth Thomas

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  1. Mario Hoppema
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Correspondence to Mario Hoppema.

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Hoppema, M., Middag, R., de Baar, H.J.W. et al. Whole season net community production in the Weddell Sea. Polar Biol 31, 101–111 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-007-0336-5

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