Increases in middle ultraviolet radiation associated with the Antarctic ozone hole have been shown to inhibit the photosynthesis of phytoplankton, and results have been extrapolated to estimate the effect of ozone depletion on primary productivity in the marginal ice zone. This research will refine the assessment by specifying detailed wavelength-dependent biological weighting functions for the inhibition of photosynthesis by ultraviolet radiation, and by considering the mitigating effects of vertical mixing. Biological weighting functions of phytoplankton in the marginal ice zone will be measured under controlled conditions and applied in a new model of photosynthesis to predict primary productivity in situ, as well as under altered ultraviolet irradiance. These predictions will be compared with observations on samples from the water column and with measurements during incubations of several hours under different irradiance regimes. Results of these comparisons will be used to test the model and to quantify the potential artifact of long incubations. Assumptions about the kinetics of photoinhibition and recovery, critical to modeling the effects of vertical mixing, will be examined with time-course experiments. Results will be incorporated into a model of photosynthesis and photoinhibition in the water column that will be used to predict the influence of ozone depletion on marine primary production, particularly in the marginal zone.
