Physical oceanography in the Western Bransfield Strait and Gerlache Strait during Austral summer 1995/96

n the framework of the FRUELA project, two oceanographic surveys were conducted by R/V Hespérides in the eastern Bellingshausen Sea, western basin of the Bransfield Strait and Gerlache Strait area during December 1995 and January 1996. The main hydrographic structures of the study domain were the Southern Boundary of the ACC and the Bransfield Front. The characteristics and zonation of local water masses are discussed in terms of temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, nutrient and inorganic carbon concentrations. Concentration intervals for water mass labelling, on the basis of chemical parameters in addition to the common theta/S-based classification, are defined. Silicate seems to be a very good discriminator for local water masses.

Living benthic foraminifers in bottom sediments of the southeastern Kandalaksha Bay (White Sea)

Analysis of composition and distribution of benthic foraminifers in six samples of bottom sediments obtained in the southeast Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea at water depths of 20 to 155 m revealed their dependence on lithology and different hydrological characteristics. It is shown that living foraminifers populating relatively shallow areas of the bay (20-60 m), which are bathed by seasonally warmed intermediate water with temperature 0.7-1.5°C and salinity 26 per mil, are characterized by high abundance (250-750 specimens/10 ccm of wet sediment) and prevalence of agglutinated species (Eggerella advena, Recurvoides turbinatus, and others). Deeper (155 m) where cold and relatively saline deep water occurs (-1.4°C, 29.5 per mil), abundance is an order lower (30 specimens/10 ccm) and is dominated by calcareous taxa Cassidulina reniforme, an Arctic cold resistant species.