Regional-scale phytoplankton dynamics and their association with glacier meltwater runoff in Svalbard

Dunse, Thorben; Dong, Kaixing; Aas, Kjetil Schanke; Stige, Leif Christian

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-271-2022

Articles | Volume 19, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-271-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-271-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 2

Research article

|

18 Jan 2022

Research article |

| 18 Jan 2022

Regional-scale phytoplankton dynamics and their association with glacier meltwater runoff in Svalbard

Thorben Dunse, Kaixing Dong, Kjetil Schanke Aas, and Leif Christian Stige

Data sets

Timeseries of simulated glacier meltwater runoff for primary hydrological regions in Svalbard Thorben Dunse and Kjetil S. Aas https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5115647

Short summary

We investigate the effect of glacier meltwater on phytoplankton dynamics in Svalbard. Phytoplankton forms the basis of the marine food web, and its seasonal dynamics depend on the availability of light and nutrients, both of which are affected by glacier runoff. We use satellite ocean color, an indicator of phytoplankton biomass, and glacier mass balance modeling to find that the overall effect of glacier runoff on marine productivity is positive within the major fjord systems of Svalbard.