Grebmeier
Jacqueline M.
Grebmeier
Jacqueline M.
No Thumbnail Available
7 results
Search Results
Now showing
1 - 7 of 7
-
ArticleMonitoring Alaskan Arctic shelf ecosystems through collaborative observation networks(Oceanography Society, 2022-04-28) Danielson, Seth L. ; Grebmeier, Jacqueline M. ; Iken, Katrin ; Berchok, Catherine L. ; Britt, Lyle ; Dunton, Kenneth ; Eisner, Lisa B. ; Farley, Edward V. ; Fujiwara, Amane ; Hauser, Donna D.W. ; Itoh, Motoyo ; Kikuchi, Takashi ; Kotwicki, Stan ; Kuletz, Kathy J. ; Mordy, Calvin W. ; Nishino, Shigeto ; Peralta-Ferriz, Cecilia ; Pickart, Robert S. ; Stabeno, Phyllis J. ; Stafford, Kathleen M. ; Whiting, Alex V. ; Woodgate, RebeccaOngoing scientific programs that monitor marine environmental and ecological systems and changes comprise an informal but collaborative, information-rich, and spatially extensive network for the Alaskan Arctic continental shelves. Such programs reflect contributions and priorities of regional, national, and international funding agencies, as well as private donors and communities. These science programs are operated by a variety of local, regional, state, and national agencies, and academic, Tribal, for-profit, and nongovernmental nonprofit entities. Efforts include research ship and autonomous vehicle surveys, year-long mooring deployments, and observations from coastal communities. Inter-program coordination allows cost-effective leveraging of field logistics and collected data into value-added information that fosters new insights unattainable by any single program operating alone. Coordination occurs at many levels, from discussions at marine mammal co-management meetings and interagency meetings to scientific symposia and data workshops. Together, the efforts represented by this collection of loosely linked long-term monitoring programs enable a biologically focused scientific foundation for understanding ecosystem responses to warming water temperatures and declining Arctic sea ice. Here, we introduce a variety of currently active monitoring efforts in the Alaskan Arctic marine realm that exemplify the above attributes.
-
ArticleParalytic shellfish toxins in Alaskan Arctic food webs during the anomalously warm ocean conditions of 2019 and estimated toxin doses to Pacific walruses and bowhead whales(Elsevier, 2022-03-03) Lefebvre, Kathi A. ; Fachon, Evangeline ; Bowers, Emily K. ; Kimmel, David G. ; Snyder, Jonathan A. ; Stimmelmayr, Raphaela ; Grebmeier, Jacqueline M. ; Kibler, Steve ; Hardison, D. Ransom ; Anderson, Donald M. ; Kulis, David M. ; Murphy, James M. ; Gann, Jeanette C. ; Cooper, Daniel W. ; Eisner, Lisa B. ; Duffy-Anderson, Janet T. ; Sheffield, Gay ; Pickart, Robert S. ; Mounsey, Anna ; Willis, Maryjean L. ; Stabeno, Phyllis J. ; Siddon, ElizabethClimate change-related ocean warming and reduction in Arctic sea ice extent, duration and thickness increase the risk of toxic blooms of the dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella in the Alaskan Arctic. This algal species produces neurotoxins that impact marine wildlife health and cause the human illness known as paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). This study reports Paralytic Shellfish Toxin (PST) concentrations quantified in Arctic food web samples that include phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthic clams, benthic worms, and pelagic fish collected throughout summer 2019 during anomalously warm ocean conditions. PSTs (saxitoxin equivalents, STX eq.) were detected in all trophic levels with concentrations above the seafood safety regulatory limit (80 μg STX eq. 100 g−1) in benthic clams collected offshore on the continental shelf in the Beaufort, Chukchi, and Bering Seas. Most notably, toxic benthic clams (Macoma calcarea) were found north of Saint Lawrence Island where Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus) are known to forage for a variety of benthic species, including Macoma. Additionally, fecal samples collected from 13 walruses harvested for subsistence purposes near Saint Lawrence Island during March to May 2019, all contained detectable levels of STX, with fecal samples from two animals (78 and 72 μg STX eq. 100 g−1) near the seafood safety regulatory limit. In contrast, 64% of fecal samples from zooplankton-feeding bowhead whales (n = 9) harvested between March and September 2019 in coastal waters of the Beaufort Sea near Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow) and Kaktovik were toxin-positive, and those levels were significantly lower than in walruses (max bowhead 8.5 μg STX eq. 100 g−1). This was consistent with the lower concentrations of PSTs found in regional zooplankton prey. Maximum ecologically-relevant daily toxin doses to walruses feeding on clams and bowhead whales feeding on zooplankton were estimated to be 21.5 and 0.7 μg STX eq. kg body weight−1 day−1, respectively, suggesting that walruses had higher PST exposures than bowhead whales. Average and maximum STX doses in walruses were in the range reported previously to cause illness and/or death in humans and humpback whales, while bowhead whale doses were well below those levels. These findings raise concerns regarding potential increases in PST/STX exposure risks and health impacts to Arctic marine mammals as ocean warming and sea ice reduction continue.
-
ArticleEvidence for massive and recurrent toxic blooms of Alexandrium catenella in the Alaskan Arctic(National Academy of Sciences, 2021-10-04) Anderson, Donald M. ; Fachon, Evangeline ; Pickart, Robert S. ; Lin, Peigen ; Fischer, Alexis D. ; Richlen, Mindy L. ; Uva, Victoria ; Brosnahan, Michael L. ; McRaven, Leah T. ; Bahr, Frank B. ; Lefebvre, Kathi A. ; Grebmeier, Jacqueline M. ; Danielson, Seth L. ; Lyu, Yihua ; Fukai, YuriAmong the organisms that spread into and flourish in Arctic waters with rising temperatures and sea ice loss are toxic algae, a group of harmful algal bloom species that produce potent biotoxins. Alexandrium catenella, a cyst-forming dinoflagellate that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning worldwide, has been a significant threat to human health in southeastern Alaska for centuries. It is known to be transported into Arctic regions in waters transiting northward through the Bering Strait, yet there is little recognition of this organism as a human health concern north of the Strait. Here, we describe an exceptionally large A. catenella benthic cyst bed and hydrographic conditions across the Chukchi Sea that support germination and development of recurrent, locally originating and self-seeding blooms. Two prominent cyst accumulation zones result from deposition promoted by weak circulation. Cyst concentrations are among the highest reported globally for this species, and the cyst bed is at least 6× larger in area than any other. These extraordinary accumulations are attributed to repeated inputs from advected southern blooms and to localized cyst formation and deposition. Over the past two decades, warming has likely increased the magnitude of the germination flux twofold and advanced the timing of cell inoculation into the euphotic zone by 20 d. Conditions are also now favorable for bloom development in surface waters. The region is poised to support annually recurrent A. catenella blooms that are massive in scale, posing a significant and worrisome threat to public and ecosystem health in Alaskan Arctic communities where economies are subsistence based.
-
ArticleThe relationship between patterns of benthic fauna and zooplankton in the Chukchi Sea and physical forcing(The Oceanography Society, 2015-09) Pisareva, Maria N. ; Pickart, Robert S. ; Iken, Katrin ; Ershova, Elizaveta A. ; Grebmeier, Jacqueline M. ; Cooper, Lee W. ; Bluhm, Bodil A. ; Nobre, Carolina ; Hopcroft, Russell R. ; Hu, Haoguo ; Wang, Jia ; Ashjian, Carin J. ; Kosobokova, Ksenia N. ; Whitledge, Terry E.Using data from a number of summer surveys of the Chukchi Sea over the past decade, we investigate aspects in which the benthic fauna, sediment structure, and zooplankton there are related to circulation patterns and shelf hydrographic conditions. A flow speed map is constructed that reveals the major pathways on the shelf. Regions of enhanced flow speed are dictated by lateral constrictions—in particular, Bering Strait and Barrow and Herald Canyons—and by sloping topography near coastlines. For the most part, benthic epifaunal and macrofaunal suspension feeders are found in high flow regimes, while deposit feeders are located in regions of weaker flow. The major exceptions are in Bering Strait, where benthic sampling was underrepresented, and in Herald Canyon where the pattern is inexplicably reversed. Sediment grain size is also largely consistent with variations in flow speed on the shelf. Data from three biophysical surveys of the Chukchi Sea, carried out as part of the Russian-American Long-term Census of the Arctic program, reveal close relationships between the water masses and the zooplankton communities on the shelf. Variations in atmospheric forcing, particularly wind, during the three sampling periods caused significant changes in the lateral and vertical distributions of the summer and winter water masses. These water mass changes, in turn, were reflected in the amounts and species of zooplankton observed throughout the shelf in each survey. Our study highlights the close relationship between physical drivers (wind forcing, water masses, circulation, and sediment type) in the Chukchi Sea and the biological signals in the benthos and the plankton on a variety of time scales.
-
ArticleLinkages among runoff, dissolved organic carbon, and the stable oxygen isotope composition of seawater and other water mass indicators in the Arctic Ocean(American Geophysical Union, 2005-12-07) Cooper, Lee W. ; Benner, Ronald ; McClelland, James W. ; Peterson, Bruce J. ; Holmes, Robert M. ; Raymond, Peter A. ; Hansell, Dennis A. ; Grebmeier, Jacqueline M. ; Codispoti, Louis A.Concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and δ18O values have been determined following sampling of runoff from a number of major arctic rivers, including the Ob, Yenisey, Lena, Kolyma, Mackenzie and Yukon in 2003-2004. These data are considered in conjunction with marine data for DOC, δ18O values, nutrients, salinity, and fluorometric indicators of DOC that were obtained as part of the Shelf-Basin Interactions program at the continental shelf-basin boundary of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. These marine data indicate that the freshwater component is most likely derived from regional sources, such as the Mackenzie, the Bering Strait inflow and possibly eastern Siberian rivers, including the Kolyma, or the Lena but not rivers further west in the Eurasian arctic. Contributions of freshwater from melted sea ice to marine surface waters appeared to be insignificant over annual cycles compared to runoff, although on a seasonal basis, freshwater from melted sea ice was locally dominant following a major sea-ice retreat into the Canada Basin in 2002. DOC concentrations were correlated with the runoff fraction, with an apparent meteoric water DOC concentration of 174 ± 1 μM (standard error). This concentration is lower than the flow-weighted concentrations measured at river mouths of the five largest Arctic rivers (358 to 917 μM), indicating that removal of terrigenous DOC during transport through estuaries, shelves and in the deep basin. DOC data indicate that flow-weighted concentrations in the two largest North American arctic rivers, the Yukon (625μM) and the Mackenzie (382 μM), are lower than in the three largest Eurasian arctic rivers, the Ob (825 μM), the Yenesey (858 μM) and the Lena (917 μM). A fluorometric indicator of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) that has provided estimates of terrigenous DOC concentrations in the Eurasian Arctic was not correlated with DOC concentrations in the Amerasian marine waters studied, except below the upper Arctic Ocean halocline. Nutrient distributions and concentrations as well as derived nutrient ratios suggest the CDOM fluorometer may be responding to the release of chromophoric materials from continental shelf sediments. Shipboard incubation experiments with undisturbed sediment cores indicate that continental shelf sediments on the Bering and Chukchi Sea shelves are likely to be a net source of DOC to the Arctic Ocean.
-
ArticlePhysical controls on the macrofaunal benthic biomass in Barrow Canyon, Chukchi Sea(American Geophysical Union, 2021-04-15) Pickart, Robert S. ; Spall, Michael A. ; Lin, Peigen ; Bahr, Frank B. ; McRaven, Leah T. ; Arrigo, Kevin R. ; Grebmeier, Jacqueline M.A region of exceptionally high macrofaunal benthic biomass exists in Barrow Canyon, implying a carbon export process that is locally concentrated. Here we offer an explanation for this benthic “hotspot” using shipboard data together with a set of dynamical equations. Repeat occupations of the Distributed Biological Observatory transect in Barrow Canyon reveal that when the northward flow is strong and the density front in the canyon is sharp, plumes of fluorescence and oxygen extend from the pycnocline to the seafloor in the vicinity of the hotspot. By solving the quasi-geostrophic omega equation with an analytical flow field fashioned after the observations, we diagnose the vertical velocity in the canyon. This reveals that, as the along stream flow converges into the canyon, it drives a secondary circulation cell with strong downwelling on the cyclonic side of the northward flow. The downwelling quickly advects material from the pycnocline to the seafloor in a vertical plume analogous to those seen in the observations. The plume occurs only when the phytoplankton reside in the pycnocline, since the near-surface vertical velocity is weak, also consistent with the observations. Using a wind-based proxy to represent the strength of the northward flow and hence the pumping, in conjunction with a satellite-derived phytoplankton source function, we construct a time series of carbon supply to the bottom of Barrow Canyon.
-
ArticleThe Pacific water flow branches in the eastern Chukchi Sea(Elsevier, 2023-11-10) Pickart, Robert S. ; Lin, Peigen ; Bahr, Frank B. ; McRaven, Leah T. ; Huang, Jie ; Pacini, Astrid ; Arrigo, Kevin Robert ; Ashjian, Carin J. ; Berchok, Catherine L. ; Baumgartner, Mark F. ; Cho, Kyoungho ; Cooper, Lee W. ; Danielson, Seth L. ; Dasher, Doug H. ; Fuiwara, Amane ; Gann, Jeanette C. ; Grebmeier, Jacqueline M. ; He, Jiangfeng ; Hirawake, Toru ; Itoh, Motoyo ; Juranek, Laurie ; Kikuchi, Takashi ; Moore, G. W. Kent ; Napp, Jeffrey M. ; John Nelson, R. ; Nishino, Shigeto ; Statscewich, Hank ; Stabeno, Phyllis J. ; Stafford, Kathleen M. ; Ueno, Hiromichi ; Vagle, Svein ; Weingartner, Thomas J. ; Williams, Bill ; Zimmermann, Sarah L.The flow of Pacific-origin water across the Chukchi Sea shelf impacts the regional ecosystem in profound ways, yet the two current branches on the eastern shelf that carry the water from Bering Strait to Barrow Canyon – the Alaskan Coastal Current (ACC) and Central Channel (CC) Branch – have not been clearly distinguished or quantified. In this study we use an extensive collection of repeat hydrographic sections occupied at three locations on the Chukchi shelf, together with data from a climatology of shipboard velocity data, to accomplish this. The data were collected predominantly between 2010 and 2020 during the warm months of the year as part of the Distributed Biological Observatory and Arctic Observing Network. The mean sections show that mass is balanced for both currents at the three locations: Bering Strait, Point Hope, and Barrow Canyon. The overall mean ACC transport is 0.34 ± 0.04 Sv, and that of the CC Branch is 0.86 ± 0.11 Sv. The dominant hydrographic variability at Bering Strait is seasonal, but this becomes less evident to the north. At Barrow Canyon, the dominant hydrographic signal is associated with year-to-year variations in sea-ice melt. Farther south there is pronounced mesoscale variability: an empirical orthogonal function analysis at Bering Strait and Point Hope reveals a distinct ACC mode and CC Branch mode in hydrography and baroclinic transport, where the former is wind-driven. Finally, the northward evolution in properties of the two currents is investigated. The poleward increase in salinity of the ACC can be explained by lateral mixing alone, but solar heating together with wind mixing play a large role in the temperature evolution. This same atmospheric forcing also impacts the northward evolution of the CC Branch.