• Title/Summary/Keyword: Antarctic sea

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Variation of Biogenic Opal Production on the Conrad Rise in the Indian Sector of the Southern Ocean since the Last Glacial Period (남극해 인도양 해역에 위치한 콘래드 해령 지역의 마지막 빙하기 이후 생물기원 오팔 생산의 변화)

  • JuYeon Yang;Minoru Ikehara;Hyuk Choi;Boo-Keun Khim
    • Ocean and Polar Research
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    • v.45 no.3
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    • pp.141-153
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    • 2023
  • Biological pump processes generated by diatom production in the surface water of the Southern Ocean play an important role in exchanging CO2 gas between the atmosphere and ocean. In this study, the biogenic opal content of the sediments was measured to elucidate the variation in the primary production of diatoms in the surface water of the Southern Ocean since the last glacial period. A piston core (COR-1bPC) was collected from the Conrad Rise, which is located in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean. The sediments were mainly composed of siliceous ooze, and sediment lightness increased and magnetic susceptibility decreased in an upward direction. The biogenic opal content was low (38.9%) during the last glacial period and high (73.4%) during the Holocene, showing a similar variation to that of Antarctic ice core ΔT and CO2 concentration. In addition, the variation of biogenic opal content in core COR-1bPC is consistent with previous results reported in the Antarctic Zone, south of the Antarctic Polar Front, in the Southern Ocean. The glacial-interglacial biogenic opal production was influenced by the extent of sea ice coverage and degree of water column stability. During the last glacial period, the diatom production was reduced due to the penetration of light being limited in the euphotic zone by the extended sea ice coverage caused by the lowered seawater temperature. In addition, the formation of a strong thermocline in more extensive areas of sea ice coverage led to stronger water column stability, resulting in reduced diatom production due to the reduction in the supply of nutrient-rich subsurface water caused by a decrease in upwelling intensity. Under such environmental circumstances, diatom productivity decreased in the Antarctic Zone during the last glacial period, but the biogenic opal content increased rapidly under warming conditions with the onset of deglaciation.

Distribution of Alexandrium tamarense in Drake Passage and the Threat of Harmful Algal Blooms in the Antarctic Ocean

  • Ho, King-Chung;Kang, Sung-Ho,;Lam Ironside H.Y.;Ho, dgkiss I.John
    • Ocean and Polar Research
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    • v.25 no.4
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    • pp.625-631
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    • 2003
  • While phytoplankton diversity and productivity in the Southern Ocean has been widely studied in recent years, most attention has been given to elucidating environmental factors that affect the dynamics of micro-plankton (mainly diatoms) and nano-plankton (mainly Phaeocystis antarctica). Only limited effects have been given to studying the occurrence and the potential risks associated with the blooming of dinoflagellates in the relevant waters. This study focused on the appearance and toxicological characteristics of a toxic dinoflagellate, Alexandrium tamarense, identified and isolated from the Drake Passage in a research cruise from November to December 2001 The appearance of A. tamarense in the Southern Ocean indicates the risk of a paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) outbreak there and is therefore of scientific concern. Results showed that while the overall quantity of A. tamarense in water samples from 30meters below the sea surface often comprised less than 0.1% of the total population of phytoplankton, the highest concentration of A. tamarense (20 cells $L^{-1}$) was recorded in the portion of the Southern Ocean between the southern end of South America and the Falkland Islands. Waters near the Polar Front contained the second highest concentrations of 10-15 cells $L^{-1}$. A. tamarense was however rarely found in waters near the southern side of the Polar Front, indicating that cold sea temperatures near the Antarctic ice does not favor the growth of this dinoflagellate. One strain of A. tamarense from this cruise was isolated and cultured for further study in the laboratory. Experiments showed that this strain of A. tamarense has a high tolerance to temperature variations and could survive at temperatures ranging from $5-26^{\circ}C$. This shows the cosmopolitan nature off. tamarense. With regard to the algal toxins produced, this strain of A. tamarense produced mainly C-2 toxins but very little saxitoxin and gonyailtoxin. The toxicological property of this A. tamarense strain coincided with a massive death of penguins in the Falkland Islands in December 2002 to January 2003.

Ecological and Biogeochemical Response of Antarctic Ecosystems to Iron Fertilization and Implications on Global Carbon Cycle

  • Bathmann, Ulrich
    • Ocean and Polar Research
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    • v.27 no.2
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    • pp.231-235
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    • 2005
  • The European Iron Fertilization Experiment EIFEX studied the growth and decline of a phytoplankton bloom stimulated by fertilising $10km^2$ in the core of a mesoscale $(80{\times}120km)$ cyclonic eddy south of the Antarctic Polar Front with about 2 times 7 tonnes of iron sulphate. The phytoplankton accumulation induced by iron fertilization did not exceed $3{\mu}g\;chl\;a\;l^{-1}$ despite a draw down of $5{\mu}M$ of nitrate that should have resulted in at least double to triple the amount of phytoplankton biomass assuming regular Redfield-ratios for draw down after phytoplankton growth in the Southern Ocean. During EIFEX the fertilized core of the mesoscale eddy evolved to a hotspot for a variety of small and medium sized mesozooplankton copepods. In contrast to copepods, the biomass of salps (Salpa thompson)) that dominated zooplankton biomass before the onset of our experiment decreased to nearly extinction. Most of the species of the rnosozooplankton community showed extremely hiか feeding rates compared to literature values from Southern Ocean summer communities. At the end of the experiment, massive phytoplankton sedimentation reached the sea floor at about 3800m water depth.

Natural and Anthropogenic Heavy Metal Deposition to the Snow in King George Island, Antarctic Peninsula

  • Hong, Sung-Min;Lluberas, Albert;Lee, Gang-Woong;Park, Jun-Kun
    • Ocean and Polar Research
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    • v.24 no.3
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    • pp.279-287
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    • 2002
  • Successive 24 snow samples, collected from a 1.2m snow pit at a site on the summit of Main Dome in King George Island, Antarctic Peninsula, were measured for heavy metals such as Pb, Cd, Cu, and Zn and other chemical species. The mean concentrations of heavy metals are 3.48pg/g for Pb, 0.10pg/g for Cd, 16.6 pg/g for Cu and 15.8 pg/g for Zn, respectively. Pb and Cd concentrations observed in our samples are very comparable to those reported for recent snow at other Antarctic sites, while Zn and Cu levels are much higher than those at other sites. The annual fallout fluxes of all heavy metals approximately calculated are, however, much greater in King George Island than at other sites. With respect to the estimates of natural contributions, sea salt spray is found to be a major contributor to Cd and Zn inputs to the snow and minor to Cu inputs. On the other hand, the anthropogenic input can account for a large part of Pb concentrations. A tentative estimate represents that local emissions could be responsible for more than half of the excess Pb flux to the snow in King George Island.

Origins and Paleoceanographic Significance of Layered Diatom Ooze from Bransfield Strait in the Northern Antarctic Peninsula around 2.5 kyrs BP

  • Yoon, Ho-Il;Kim, Yea-Dong;Park, Byong-Kwon;Kang, Cheon-Yun;Bae, Sung-Ho;Yoo, Kyu-Chul
    • Ocean and Polar Research
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    • v.24 no.3
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    • pp.301-311
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    • 2002
  • We used diatom and porewater data of two piston cores from the central subbasin and one from the western subbasin in the Bransfield Strait in the northern Antarctic Peninsula to elucidate the depositional mechanism of the layered diatom ooze. The layered diatom ooze is characterized by an abundance of organic carbon, biogenic silica, sulfde sulfur, and lower porewater sulfate concentration. This lack of pore-water sulfate concentration in the diatom ooze interval may reflect development of reducing micro-environment in which bacterially mediated sulfate reduction occurred. The negative relationship between the total organic carbon and sulfate contents, however, indicates that sulfate reduction was partly taking place but does not control organic carbon preservation in this unit. Rather, well-preserved Chaetoceros resting spores in the layered diatom ooze indicate a rapid sedimentation of the diatom as a result of repetitive iceedge blooms on the Bransfield shelf during the cold period (around 2500 yrs BP) when the permanent seaice existed on the shelf, During this period, it is expected that the downslope-flowing cold and dense water was also formed on the Bransfield shelf as a result of sea ice formation, playing an important role for the formation of layered diatom ooze in the Bransfield subbasins.

CLIMATIC TRENDS OF SOME PARAMETERS OF THE SOUTHERN OCEAN DERIVED FROM REMOTE SENSING DATA

  • Lebedev, S.A.
    • Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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    • v.2
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    • pp.1023-1026
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    • 2006
  • As it was shown recently, climate changes in Antarctica resulted in interannual trends of some climatic parameters like sea level pressure, surface air temperature, ice thickness and others. These tendencies have effect on the Southern Ocean meteorological and hydrological regime. The following remote sensing data: AVHRR MCSST data, satellite altimetry data (merged data of mission ERS-2, TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, ENVISAT, GFO-1) are used to analyse the interannual and/or climatic tendency of sea surface temperature (SST) and sea level anomaly (SLA). According to the obtained results, SST has negative trend $-0.02{\pm}0.003^{\circ}C/yr$ for 24-yr record (1982-2005) and SLA has positive trend $0.01{\pm}0.005$ cm/yr for 24-yr record (1982-2005) and $0.24{\pm}0.026$ cm/yr for 12-yr record (1993-2005). However in some areas (for example, Pacific-Antarctic Ridge) SST and SLA tendencies are stronger $-0.065{\pm}0.007^{\circ}C/yr$ and $-0.21{\pm}0.05$ cm/yr, respectively.

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Sea level Valiability and eddy in the South Indian Ocean by Multi-satellite data (Topex/Poseidon, ERS 1) (복수위성자료(Topex/Poseidon, ERS1)를 이용한 남인도양의 해수면 변화와 와동류 연구)

  • 윤홍주
    • Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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    • 2003.05a
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    • pp.641-644
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    • 2003
  • Sea level variability and eddy in the Amsterdam-Crozet-Kerguelen region of the South Indian Ocean were studied during 1 year(October 15, 1992~October 15, 1993) using multi-satellite data(Topex/Poseidon, ERSl) produced by signal treatement. We found that generally sea level variabilities(>10cm) exist along the Antarctic Circumpolar Current in the area of 35$^{\circ}$~46$^{\circ}$S and especially strong sea level variabilities(20~30cm) were occurred by the effects of eddy due to botton topography in two small area: 49$^{\circ}$-57$^{\circ}$E and 38$^{\circ}$~42$^{\circ}$S, and 58$^{\circ}$ -64$^{\circ}$E and 42$^{\circ}$-44$^{\circ}$S.

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Biogenic Opal Production and Paleoclimate Change in the Wilkes Land Continental Rise (East Antarctica) during the Mid-to-late Miocene (IODP Exp 318 Site U1359) (동남극 윌크스랜드 대륙대의 마이오세 중-후기 동안 생물기원 오팔 생산과 고기후 변화(IODP Exp 318 Site U1359))

  • Song, Buhan;Khim, Boo-Keun
    • Ocean and Polar Research
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    • v.37 no.1
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    • pp.23-35
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    • 2015
  • A 450 m-long sediment section was recovered from Hole U1359D located at the eastern levee of the Jussieau submarine channel on the Wilkes Land continental rise (East Antarctica) during IODP Expedition 318. The age model for Hole U1359D was established by paleomagnetic stratigraphy and biostratigraphy, and the ages of core-top and core-bottom were estimated to be about 5 Ma and 13 Ma, respectively. Biogenic opal content during this period varied between 3% and 60%. In the Southern Ocean, high biogenic opal content generally represents warm climate characterized by the increased light availability due to the decrease of sea-ice distribution. The surface water productivity change in terms of biogenic opal content at about 10.2 Ma in the Wilkes Land continental rise was related to the development of Northern Component Water. After about 10.2 Ma, more production of Northern Component Water in the North Atlantic caused to increase heat transport to the Southern Ocean, resulting in the enhanced diatom production. Miocene isotope events (Mi4~Mi7), which are intermittent cooling intervals during the Miocene, appeared to be correlated to the low biogenic opal contents, but further refinement was required for precise correlation. Biogenic opal content decreased abruptly during 6 Ma to 5.5 Ma, which most likely corresponds to the Messinian salinity crisis. Short-term variation of biogenic opal content was related to the extent of sea-ice distribution associated with the location of Antarctic Polar Front that was controlled by glacial-interglacial paleoclimate change, although more precise dating and correlation will be necessary. Diatom production in the Wilkes Land continental rise increased during the interglacial periods because of the reduced sea-ice distribution and the southward movement of Antarctic Polar Front.

Seasonal fluctuation and vertical distribution of Paraphysomonas(Chrysophyceae) off the coast near Syowa Station, East Ongul Island, Antarctica: -(Preliminary report)

  • TAKAHASHI Eiji
    • 한국생태학회:학술대회논문집
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    • 1999.05a
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    • pp.55-62
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    • 1999
  • Four species of Paraphysomonas collected from the fast- ice covered area Syowa Station, East Ongul Island ($69^{\circ}00'S,\;39^{\circ}35'$) ,Antarctica occurred in the seawater throughout the year and occasionally in the sea ice. P.. antarctica is distributed to a water depth of 35m at 51.3 during the period from August 1983 to January 1984 and also down to 600m St. 5 in September 1983 at cell concentrations of 300-350 cells/ml. The Paraphysomonas spp. were dominant during the period from July to November 1983 in the area studied. The mode of the occurrence and vertical distribution of Paraphysomonas apparently coresponds to those of the bacteria and orgarnic debris-like matter in the seawater. The main components of the plankton population in the area studied, under ice-covered conditions, are Paraphysomonas, Choanoflagellates and bacteria. This work clarified that Paraphysomonas is one o f the most important bacterivores in the microbial loop of the Antarctic marine ecosystem.

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