Potential impact of the sea ice ecosystem on the early peak of particulate organic carbon flux in the Antarctic Ocean

Abstract

A 1D vertical transport model (SPBM; Sympagic-Pelagic-Benthic Model) is developed to simulate the biogeochemical processes taking place between the sea ice and pelagic water column underneath. The simulation showed a strong interaction between these two domains such that the sea ice provided seed populations of the phytoplankton and the water column acted as a source of the nutrients nourishing them. Different algal functional types showed different spatial and temporal variabilities in both of the ice and the water domains due to their different physiologies. The simulated results suggest that early-season algal production in the sea ice could be related to the earlier peak of POC flux rather than the peak production of Chl-a in the water surface underneath.