Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8907819 | Polar Science | 2018 | 7 Pages |
Abstract
Mid-trophic level at high-latitude coastal water in the Southern Ocean reside unique geographical condition with sea ice, coastal polynya, and ice shelf. To investigate the regional differences in their vertical distribution during summer, we examined acoustic backscatter data from scientific echo sounder, collected in the three representative regions in the Amundsen Sea: pack ice zone, coastal polynya zone, and ice shelf zone. The weighted mean depths (WMDs) representing zooplankton were calculated with the high resolution acoustic backscatter (1-m depth) to identify the vertical variability of the sound-scattering layer (SSL). WMDs were mainly distributed between 50 and 130â¯m exhibiting clear regional differences. The WMDs were detected in the shallow depth ranged between 48 and 84â¯m within the pack ice and coastal polynya, whereas they were observed at deeper depths around near ice shelf ranged between 117 and 126â¯m. WMDs varied with changing the stratification of water column structure representing strong linear relationship with the mixed layer depth (râ¯=â¯0.69). This finding implies that understanding the essential forcing of zooplankton behavior will improve our ability to assess the coastal ecosystem in the Southern Ocean facing dramatic change.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Earth and Planetary Sciences
Earth and Planetary Sciences (General)
Authors
Hyungbeen Lee, Hyoung Sul La, Donhyug Kang, SangHoon Lee,