Andvord

Bay

Flandres

Bay

3 – 100 kg m-2

Euphausia superba aggregations

May-June 2010

M. Zhou, unpubl.

Wilhelmina

Bay

Fjord Ecosystem Structure and Function on the

West Antarctic Peninsula - Hotspots of Productivity and

Biodiversity? (FjordEco)

The West Antarctic Peninsula Fjords –

- Extensive and rapidly warming system of sub-polar fjords

with tidal glaciers

- These fjords are hotspots of benthic and pelagic productivity

and biodiversity (krill, whales, seals, penguins) , but causes

and sensitivity to climate warming very poorly understood.

2 million tons of krill,

> 400 feeding

humpback whales in

single fjord

623 sea cucumbers per m2

Hotspots of benthic

abundance

To determine:

1) What physical, glaciological, biological and chemical

processes interact to enhance fjord productivity and

biodiversity?

(2) Conduct ecosystem modeling to explore how

sensitive these fjord ecosystems are to climate warming

(e.g.,, increased meltwater and sediment inputs).

Andvord Bay

Newly funded NSF project to conduct 15-month field program from Andvord Bay onto

open shelf to study oceanographic and glaciological forcing, and phytoplankton and

benthic community response -

We will have two process oriented research

cruises to the Antarctic fjords with berths

and opportunities for GES research

projects:

18 Nov – 31 Dec 2015: 1 – 2 GES student

berths

31 Mar – 20 May 2016: 2 – 3 GES students if

can cover own travel to Punta Arenas

Opportunities for research projects on

seafloor ecology, pelgic-benthic coupling,

physical oceanography.