A biogeochemical study in the Bellingshausen Sea: Overview of the STERNA 1992 expedition

• Published in: Deep-sea research. Part II, Topical studies in oceanography Vol. 42; no. 4; pp. 907 - 932
• Main Authors: Turner, D.R., Owens, N.J.P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.01.1995
• Subjects: Marine; PSW, Bellingshausen Sea
• ISSN: 0967-0645; 1879-0100
• DOI: 10.1016/0967-0645(95)00056-V

A general overview and background of a two-ship study to examine biogeochemical fluxes in the marginal ice-zone of the Bellingshausen Sea (65–70°S; 80–87°W), SE Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean is presented. The major feature studied was an intense band of chlorophyll that was found geographically close to a receding ice-edge. However, the bloom appeared not to be a result of a shallow mixed layer caused by ice-melt stabilisation, but rather associated with an oceanic front that coincided with the ice-edge. Details of the hydrographic conditions existing along the 85°W meridian from the ice-edge to open water to the north, and detailed surveys of surface hydrographic conditions are presented.