(Table 2) Sedimentation and accumulation rates of DSDP Holes 38-337 and 38-338

The modern depositional environment of the deep Norwegian-Greenland Sea is highly asymmetric in an E-W direction because of the hydrography of the surface water masses and because of the more or less permanent pack ice cover of the East Greenland Current regime along the Greenland continental margin. By means of sedimentation rates we have tried to investigate whether this hydrographic asymmetry influenced the sediment input to the Norwegian-Greenland Sea over the past 60 m.y. Sediment input can be quantified if thicknesses of sediment sections accumulated over known time intervals can be measured and if some of their physical properties have been determined. Sedimentation rates have been estimated for Tertiary and Quaternary times, and their temporal as well as their spatial changes are discussed. Basin structure and morphology exerted an important influence on sediment distribution. During the Early Tertiary major sediment source regions in the southern Barents Sea and to the north and west of Iceland could be identified; these source regions supplied the bulk of the sediment fill of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea. Since inception of a "glacial" type sedimentation major elements of the sea surface circulation seem to have controlled the sediment input into this polar and subpolar deep-sea basin.

Ingestion and clearance rates of Copepods

Feeding activity, selective grazing and the potential grazing impact of two dominant grazers of the Polar Frontal Zone, Calanus simillimus and Rhincalanus gigas, and of copepods < 2 mm were investigated with incubation experiments in the course of an iron fertilized diatom bloom in November 2000. All grazers were already actively feeding in the low chlorophyll waters prior to the onset of the bloom. C. simillimus maintained constant clearance rates and fed predominantly on diatoms. R. gigas and the small copepods strongly increased clearance and ingestion of diatoms in response to their enhanced availability. All grazers preyed on microzooplankton, most steadily on ciliates, confirming the view that pure herbivory appears to be the exception rather than the rule in copepod feeding. The grazers exhibited differences in feeding behavior based on selectivity indices. C. simillimus and R. gigas showed prey switching from dinoflagellates to diatoms in response to the phytoplankton bloom. All grazers most efficiently grazed on large diatoms leading to differences in daily losses for large and small species, e.g. Corethron sp. or Thalassionema nitzschioides. Species-specific diatom mortality rates due to grazing suggest that the high feeding activity of C. simillimus prior to and during the bloom played a role in shaping diatom population dynamics

(Appendix A) Dissolved manganese concentrations during POLARSTERN Cruise ARK-XXII/2

A total of 773 samples were analysed for dissolved manganese (Mn) in the Arctic Ocean aboard R.V. Polarstern during expedition ARK XXII/2 from 28 July until 07 October 2007 from Tromsø (Norway) to Bremerhaven. Concentrations of Mn were elevated in the surface layer with concentrations of up to 6 nM over the deep Basins and over 20 nM in the Laptev Sea. The general distribution of Mn through the water column is consistent with previous studies, but there are differences in the absolute concentrations that are most likely related to differences in sample area, sampling and filtration. The elevated concentrations of Mn in the surface layer are related to fresh water input. This was visible in the strong negative correlations observed between dissolved Mn and salinity. The correlation between Mn and salinity and the correlation between Mn and the quasi conservative trace water mass tracer PO4*, showed fluvial and melt water input and the Pacific and Atlantic origin of the surface waters. A large portion of the Mn delivered by the Arctic rivers is removed in the shelf seas and does not pass into the central basins. Most likely a benthic flux is at the origin of the elevated concentrations of Mn near the sediments in the Barents and Kara Seas. These elevated concentrations of Mn apparently affected the deep basins as well, as maxima in the concentrations of Mn were observed that corresponded with lowered transmission over the continental slope. A maximum in the concentration of Mn in the deep basin corresponded with anomalies in light transmission, potential temperature and dissolved iron, confirming the hydrothermal origin. The hydrothermal plume was observed throughout the Nansen Basin and over the deep Gakkel Ridge around 2500 m depth and a smaller plume was observed around 3200 m. The concentration of Mn at the Mn maximum around 2500 m depth decreased exponentially, consistent with a first order scavenging model. The concentrations of Mn were extremely low in the deep Makarov Basin (~0.05 nM) and slightly higher in the Eurasian Basin (~0.1 nM) outside the influence of the hydrothermal activity.