Modeling benthic consumption, advection, and carbon subsidies in the Barents Sea

Benthic communities play important roles in the processing of organic carbon on Arctic shelves. These roles affect nutrient availability for phytoplankton; food supply for benthic-feeding fish, seabirds, and mammals; and long-term storage of carbon in sed iments. The dynamic nature and pronounced seasonality of Arctic shelf systems make it difficult to understand these systems solely from limited field campaigns. We propose to improve an existing ecosystem model of the Barents Sea (SINMOD) to more accurate ly reflect the role of physical and biological processes at and near the sea floor in mediating the fate of organic carbon. Shallow areas (banks) in the Barents Sea are characterized by high currents which can resuspend and transport sedimenting organic m atter either to deeper areas of Barents Sea, or off-shelf. We will model near-bottom lateral flow fields to investigate advective processes over Svalbard Bank in the southwestern Barents Sea. We will also determine realistic remineralization and burial co efficients for the ecosystem model using benthic respiration data collected during recent studies of deeper areas of the Barents Sea. A second set of coefficients will be determined from new data collected during field studies proposed for Svalbard Bank. The improved hydrodynamical-biological model will then be used to determine carbon source areas for important fish and shrimp grounds in the Barents Sea. Our work addresses economic and ecological questions identified as critical in the developing managem ent plan for the Barents Sea, and enhances research in the Northern Regions. Realistic ecosystem models are important for addressing a range of management questions as Norway seeks to promote sustainable, science-based development of its biological resour ces.