Tobias Tamelander, University of Tromsø in Norway
April, 16 - 2008
My research concerns the sinking of organic matter from the surface of the ocean to deep layers, its regulation, and the connection this transport sets up between the water column (pelagic) biota and the bottom-dwelling animals (benthos).
My work has so far focused on seasonally ice-covered waters in the northern outskirts of Europe, starting in the Baltic Sea in 2000, and since 2003 in the Barents Sea and Svalbard region. Participation in CFL during a 6-week field campaign in March-April gives me an opportunity to study vertical export during the transit from winter to spring. Microscopic algae in the ice and the water column build up a substantial biomass during this time of year, which typically leads to high export of organic carbon to deep layers, nurturing the benthic fauna and acting as an efficient biological carbon pump. Comparative studies between the different environmental settings (water masses, ice conditions, biological communities) in the Canadian and the European Arctic lead to a more holistic understanding of carbon fluxes in Arctic shelf seas, and the regulation of vertical export in ice covered waters.
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