Biophysical Interactions in the Iceland Basin

Abstract

The Iceland Basin in the N. Atlantic has attracted considerable recent attention because the spring bloom in this region acts as the most

powerful biological carbon pump anywhere in the world oceans. Furthermore, the link between primary productivity and herbivory by the

calanoid copepod, Ca/anus finmarchicus provides the trophic link between primary producers and the important commercial fishery for Atlantic Cod. However one result of ocean warming is that the distribution of the cold water loving a/anus finmarchicus is being pushed northwards which adversely affects the food supply to juvenile Cod. Perhaps of more serious concern are concerns that the biological carbon pump may weaken as a result of increased thermal stratification and therefore reduce upward nitrate flux to drive nitrate-based export production. This was in fact confirmed at least in the study region which is dominated by regenerated production (f-ratio