Global ASCII grids with daylenth values during summer and winter solstice and ASCII grids representing habitat suitability of Fucus distichus and its niche overlap with temperate macroalgae under present-day and future (2100, 2200) conditions

Abstract has to be submitted by the author!

Raw data of SCADCP (self-contained Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler) from three moorings in the Eastern Weddell Sea, 2005-2008

The success of any efforts to determine the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems depends on understanding in the first instance the natural variations, which contemporarily occur on the interannual and shorter time scales. Here we present results on the environmental controls of zooplankton distribution patterns and behaviour in the eastern Weddell Sea, Southern Ocean. Zooplankton abundance and vertical migration are derived from the mean volume backscattering strength (MVBS) and the vertical velocity measured by moored acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs), which were deployed simultaneously at 64°S, 66.5°S and 69°S along the Greenwich Meridian from February, 2005, until March, 2008. While these time series span a period of full three years they resolve hourly changes. A highly persistent behavioural pattern found at all three mooring locations is the synchronous diel vertical migration (DVM) of two distinct groups of zooplankton that migrate between a deep residence depth during daytime and a shallow depth during nighttime. The DVM was closely coupled to the astronomical daylight cycles. However, while the DVM was symmetric around local noon, the annual modulation of the DVM was clearly asymmetric around winter solstice or summer solstice, respectively, at all three mooring sites. DVM at our observation sites persisted throughout winter, even at the highest latitude exposed to the polar night. Since the magnitude as well as the relative rate of change of illumination is minimal at this time, we propose that the ultimate causes of DVM separated from the light-mediated proximal cue that coordinates it. In all three years, a marked change in the migration behaviour occurred in late spring (late October/early November), when DVM ceased. The complete suspension of DVM after early November is possibly caused by the combination of two factors: (1) increased availability of food in the surface mixed layer provided by the phytoplankton spring bloom, and (2) vanishing diurnal enhancement of the threat from visually oriented predators when the illumination is quasi-continuous during the polar and subpolar summer. Zooplankton abundance in the water column, estimated as the mean MVBS in the depth range 50-300 m, was highest end of summer and lowest mid to end winter on the average annual cycle. However, zooplankton abundance varied several-fold between years and between locations. Based on satellite and in situ data of chlorophyll and sea ice as well as on hydrographic measurements, the interannual and spatial variations of zooplankton mean abundance can be explained by differences in the magnitude of the phytoplankton spring bloom, which develops during the seasonal sea ice retreat. Whereas the vernal ice melt appears necessary to stimulate the blooming of phytoplankton, it is not the determinator of the blooms magnitude, its areal extent and duration. A possible explanation for the limitation of the phytoplankton bloom in some years is top-down control. We hypothesise that the phytoplankton spring development can be curbed by grazing when the zooplankton had attained high abundance by growth during the preceding summer.

Sea surface temperatures, alkenones and sedimentation rates at the Alboran basin

Sea surface temperatures (SSTs) recorded by alkenones and oxygen isotopes in the Alboran basin are used here to describe, at an unprecedented fine temporal resolution, the present interglaciation (PIG, initiated at 11.7 ka BP), the last interglaciation (LIG, onset approximately at 129 ka) and respective deglaciations. Similarities and dissimilarities in the progression of these periods are reviewed in comparison with ice cores and stalagmites. Cold spells coeval with the Heinrich events (H) described in the North Atlantic include multi-decadal scale oscillations not previously obvious (up to 4 °C in less than eight centuries within the stadials associated with H1 and H11, ca 133 ka and 17 ka respectively). These abrupt oscillations precede the accumulation of organic rich layers deposited when perihelion moves from alignment with NH spring equinox to the summer solstice, a reference for deglaciations. Events observed during the last deglaciation at 17 ka, 14.8 ka and 11.7 ka are reminiscent of events occurred during the penultimate deglaciation at ca 136 ka, 132 ka and 129 ka, respectively. The SST trend during the PIG is no more than 2 °C (from 20 °C to 18 °C; up to ?0.2 °C/ka). The trend is steeper during the LIG, i.e. up to a 5 °C change from the early interglaciation to immediately before the glacial inception (from 23 °C to 18 °C; up to -0.4 °C/ka). Events are superimposed upon a long term trend towards colder SSTs, beginning with SST maxima followed by temperate periods until perihelion aligned with the NH autumn equinox (before ca 5.3 ka for the PIG and 121 ka for the LIG). A cold spell of around eight centuries at 2.8 ka during the PIG was possibly mimicked during the LIG at ca 118 ka by a SST fall of around 1 °C in a millennium. These events led interglacial SST to stabilise at around 18 °C. The glacial inception, barely evident at the beginning ca 115 ka (North Atlantic event C25, after perihelion passage in the NH winter solstice), culminated with a SST drop of at least 2 °C in two millennia (event C24, ca 111 ka). The Little Ice Age (0.7 ka) also occurred after the latest perihelion passage in the NH winter solstice and could be an example of how a glacial pre-inception event following an interglaciation might be.

Tab. 1: Winter temperatures at the west coast of Greenland

Ist die Tatsache ungewöhnlicher Temperaturzunahme im Nordpolarraum in den letzten Jahrzehnten durch zahlreiche Publikationen allgemein bekannt, so möchte ich hier auf einige sehr bemerkenswerte, in jüngster Zeit von mir aufgedeckte Erscheinungen und Beziehungen hinweisen. 1. Die Milderung der Wintertemperatur an der W-Küste Grönlands. Bildet man die Wintertemperaturdifferenzen: Godthab minus Jakobshavn, so zeigt sich für die untersuchte Reihe 1876-1939: 2. eine periodische Schwankung mit sehr gut ausgeprägten Maximis um die Mitte der Neunzigerjahre und um 1920, Minima um 1880, 1905 und Ende der 20er Jahre, das besonders abgeschwächt ist; seitdem ist diese Differenz wieder in Zunahme begriffen; es zeigt sich somit auch hier meine an zahlreichen Gebieten von der Äquatorial bis zur Polarzone aufgedeckte 24 jährige Witterungsperiode. 3. Die Abschwächung der Winter-Temperaturdifferenz von Godthaah bis Jakobshavn ist (trotz der relativ nur geringen Entfernung von kaum 600 km) als ungewöhnlich hoch zu betrachten. Um diese Verhältnisse eindrucksvoll darlegen zu können, ist die klare Darlegung durch Tabellen unerläßlich.

Biomass of picophytoplankton in the Black Sea in winter 1991

Studies of picophytoplankton were carried out in the open Black Sea from February to April 1991 with concomitant blooming of diatoms. During this period cyanobacteria predominated in picoplankton averaging 98.8% of total picophytoplankton abundance and 95% of total picoplankton biomass. In February number of cells reached 1.5x10**9 per liter in the East Black Sea. Picoplankton biomass decreased during the observation period. From February to March biomass varied from 452 to 4918 mg/m**2 (av. 1632 mg/m**2), and from March through April from 4 to 656 mg/m**2 (av. 190 mg/m**2). Vertical distribution of picoplankton was determined by the upper margin of the main pycnocline. The major part of picoplankton biomass occurred in the mixed layer. With appearance of seasonal pycnoclines in the last days of March maximum biomass occurred under the upper mixed layer. No relationship was observed between Nitzschia delicatula bloom and picoplankton.