Characteristics of seasonal and spatial variations of primary production over the southeastern Bering Sea shelf

In situ primary production data collected during 1978–1981 period and 1997–2000 period were combined to improve understanding of seasonal and spatial distribution of primary production in the southeastern Bering Sea. Mean daily primary production rates showed an apparent seasonal cycle with high rates in May and low rates in summer over the entire shelf of the southeastern Bering Sea except for oceanic region due to lack of data. There was also an increasing trend of primary production rates in the fall over the inner shelf and the middle shelf. There was a decreasing trend of primary production rates between late April and mid-May over the inner shelf while there was an abrupt increase between late April and mid-May over the middle shelf and the outer shelf. In the shelf break region, there was an increasing pattern in late May. These suggest that there was a gradual progression of the development of the spring phytoplankton bloom from the inner shelf toward the shelf break region. There was also a latitudinal variability of primary production rate over the middle shelf, probably due to either spatial variations of the seasonal advance and retreat of sea ice or horizontal advection of saline water in the bottom layer. Annual rates of primary production across the southeastern Bering Sea shelf were 121, 150, 145, 110, and 84 g C m−2 yr−1 in the inner shelf, the middle shelf, the outer shelf, the shelf break, and oceanic region, respectively. High annual rates of primary production over the inner shelf can be attributed to continuous summer production based on regenerated nitrogen and/or a continuous supply of nitrogen at the inner front region, and to fall production. There were some possibilities of underestimation of annual primary production over the entire shelf due to lack of measurement in early spring and fall, which may be more apparent over the shelf break and oceanic region than the inner shelf, the middle, and the outer shelf. This study suggests that the response of primary production by climate change in the southeastern Bering Sea shelf can be misunderstood without proper temporal and seasonal measurement.