This collaborative effort will make use of an extensive and unique data set collected over several years from the Chukchi Sea. Investigators from three institutions will study the interactions of physical, chemical, and biological processes of the Chukchi Sea ecosystem to define its present and perhaps future trophic status in a series of data and simulation analyses. The biological processes associated with chemical and physical processes in the Chukchi Sea will be assessed using data from a series of 13 current meter moorings in 1990-1991 and seven bilateral U.S.-U.S.S.R. cruises during 1988-1991. The source water concentrations of nutrients flowing through Bering Strait into the Arctic will be determined on an annual basis for the years 1988-1991 and will be combined with buoyancy flux estimates to calculate nutrient flux estimates. Work will be undertaken to analyze various scenarios of ice cover, primary production, DOC releases, and CO2 exchange with the atmosphere, using a biochemical model of high vertical reso- lution (1 m) coupled to a barotropic circulation model of coarse horizontal resolution (10km). In addition, dominant phytoplankton groups will be identified and related to their respective nutrient habitats. The work supports the goals and research priorities of the Arctic System Science (ARCSS) program of the Global Geosciences Initiative.
