Nitrogen uptake in two frontal areas in the Greenland Sea

Summary

During late spring, 1987, observations were made of nitrate and ammonium uptake in two regions of the Greenland Sea, the Arctic Front and the Polar Front. In the area of the Arctic Front, mixed layers were relatively deep (generally below 100m), and the 1% isolume averaged 35 m. Ambient nitrate concentrations were always greater than 6 μM, whereas ammonium levels were always less than 0.6 μM. Surface nitrate and ammonium specific uptake rates averages 4.4 and 2.3×10⁻³ h⁻¹, respectively. The Polar Front generally coincided spatially with the location of the ice edge, and vertical mixed layers were shallow (pycnocline depth ranged from 8–14 m), and the 1 % isolume averaged 37 m. Nitrate concentrations were somewhat lower than in the Arctic Front, but remained above 3 μM at all times. Ammonium levels reached 1.2 μM. Nitrate and ammonium specific uptake rates at the surface averaged 4.8×10⁻³ and 10×10⁻³ h⁻¹, respectively. Integrated water column f-ratios for the Arctic and Polar Front regions averaged 0.63 and 0.31, and the ammonium relative preference indices at all depths within each study area were always greater than 8, indicating that ammonium remained the preferred nitrogen source for phytoplankton. New production in the two regions was approximately equal, but the Polar Front had a substantially greater amount of regenerated production, and hence total production as well. Irradiance (and not nutrient concentration) seems to be the most important environmental factor in controlling nitrogen uptake. The spatial variability observed within the Greenland Sea suggest that inclusion of this region in global carbon models will require increased spatial resolution of both the models and the data included.