Wind-driven interannual variability of sea ice algal production in the western Arctic Chukchi Borderland

Watanabe, E.; Onodera, J.; Harada, N.; Aita, M. N.; Ishida, A.; Kishi, M. J.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-6147-2015

Articles | Volume 12, issue 20

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-6147-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue:

Catastrophic reduction of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean...

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-6147-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 12, issue 20

Research article

|

28 Oct 2015

Research article |

| 28 Oct 2015

Wind-driven interannual variability of sea ice algal production in the western Arctic Chukchi Borderland

E. Watanabe, J. Onodera, N. Harada, M. N. Aita, A. Ishida, and M. J. Kishi

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Final revised paper (published on 28 Oct 2015)
Preprint (discussion started on 22 May 2015)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

RC C3000: 'Reviewers comments', Anonymous Referee #1, 22 Jun 2015
RC C3093: 'evaluation', Anonymous Referee #2, 24 Jun 2015
AC C4315: 'Revised version of "Wind-driven interannual variability of sea ice algal production in the western Arctic Chukchi Borderland"', E. Watanabe, 14 Aug 2015

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

ED: Reconsider after major revisions (20 Aug 2015) by Toru Hirawake

AR by E. Watanabe on behalf of the Authors (20 Aug 2015) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (21 Aug 2015) by Toru Hirawake

RR by Nadja Steiner (21 Sep 2015)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

The manuscript is much improved from the originally submitted stage. The reviewers comments have been adequately addressed and the English language is much more fluent. I recommend the paper for publication with minor revisions.

The sensitivity study adds value. I would suggest adding a sentence on the results in the abstract,
mention the sensitivity study in section 2.3. and slightly expand the respective paragraph in the summary. I also think it is generally helpful to have a brief summary table stating the sensitivity runs performed with names. I suggest adding such a table in section 5 and referring to it from Fig. 13.

Minor corrections:

Please note that the line numbers refer to the version with changes included which was attached to the responses to reviewers comments!

Line 85 could not be available => was not available
90 , the sea ice ecosystem
100 rm from
120/121 rm act as phytoplankton
140 Rossby Radius – give number
227/228 divided to – divided between
281 grids => grid points
298 to the initial → for the initial
340 checked -> evaluated
344 which was – which is
410 until the past → in the past , substantially less → substantially lower
455-456 This sentence is irritating. I sounds like initialization during freezing causes the difference. This seems unlikely, since initial nutrients would be consumed quickly. After re-reading I realized that this sentence probably relates to the whole freezing period hence includes continuous replenishing with additional freezing. Is this correct? If so I would probably rephrase:
original: At least, the model results suggested that the preconditioning of nutrient accumulation in the sea ice column during the freezing period controlled the interannual variability in the ice algal
bloom.
Revised: The model results suggest that the nutrient accumulation in the skeletal layer during the freezing period controls the interannual variability in the initial ice algal bloom.
488-491 repeated but confused =- is this the same as what was said before?
498 The detailed → Detailed
533 period of in the => rm in
539 Convergence in sea ice velocity => Sea ice convergence or Converging sea ice
541 Suggest: Continuous Ekman downwelling coincided with the sea ice convergence.
550 Suggest: Sea ice moved several hundred km during this period (5 cm/s)...
553 lessened => reduced
571 sandwiched between
573 rm continuously, suggest : was fixed at 1.0 (…) for depths of 0-200m
590 appeared => occurred
603 planktic => planktonic (???) also a planctonic species or move diatoms to plural => diatoms were
620 Put afterward at the end of sentence also “The PON flux”
623 without being suspended and seeding => unclear!!
624 of the PON flux originated
630 The PON flux
634 its faster => a faster
638 This sentence is not clear. Suggest: Due to the thick ice cover neither an ice algae nor a pelagic bloom was simulated in the model. Instead the observed event may have been.....
651 suggest to rm rather
679 rm of
704 Does the simulated light availability decrease or the light condition term – not clear what light condition term means.
710 no ice algal production => should this be: no ice algal production locally ?
759/760 rm “for the saving of computational resources” superfluous
809 the essential => essential - also what does essential improvement mean?
876 We used same parameter values of the grazing process as pelagic planktons. - This sentence is not clear should it say: We used the same grazing parameter values for grazing on pelagic and sympagic pelagic plankton . ????
902 What does “as well as case 4” mean ?
918 The sea ice ecosystem => a sea ice ecosystem
941-42 I think an “and” is missing between cyclone and transported
944 suggest: We further addressed several model uncertainties with sensitivity experiments.
948 more possibilities should also be addressed – What does this mean ?

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RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (28 Sep 2015)

ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (Editor review) (29 Sep 2015) by Toru Hirawake

AR by E. Watanabe on behalf of the Authors (05 Oct 2015) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (14 Oct 2015) by Toru Hirawake

Short summary

The current paper presented findings on seasonal and interannual variability of sea ice algal production and biomass over the western Arctic Chukchi Boderland using a pan-Arctic sea ice-ocean modeling approach. In particular, the relationship with wind pattern was focused on. Coupling of physical and biogeochemical analyses provided originality of this study.