The size-fractionated chlorophyll a and primary productivity in the Bering Sea during the summer of 2003

Investigations of chlorophyll a and primary productivity were carried out in the Bering Sea along the BR line and the BS line during the Second Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition in the summer of 2003. The results showed that the surface chlorophyll a concentrations were 0.199~1.170 μg/dm3, and the average value was 0.723 μg/dm3 on the BR line. For the BS line, the surface chlorophyll a concentrations were 0.519~4.644 μg/dm3 (average 1.605 μg/dm3) and 0.568~14.968 μg/dm3 (average 5.311 μg/dm3) during the early and late summer, respectively. The average value in the late summer was much higher than that in the early summer. The high values (more than 4.0 μg/dm3) occurred at stations of the BS line in the southern Bering Strait. The chlorophyll a concentrations in the subsurface layer were higher than those in the surface layer. The results of the size-fractionated chlorophyll a showed that the contribution of the picoplankton to total chlorophyll a was the predominance at the early summer and the contribution of the netplankton was the predominance at the late summer. The carbon potential primary productivities varied between 0.471 and 1.147 mg/(m3·h) on the BR line, with average rates of 0.728 mg/(m3·h). The primary productivities on the BS line were much higher than those of the BR line, ranging from 1.227 mg/(m3·h) at the early summer to 19.046 mg/(m3·h) at the late summer. The results of the size-fractionated primary productivity showed that the contribution of the nanoplankton to total productivity was the predominance at the early summer and the contribution of the netplankton was predominance at the late summer. The assimilation number of photosynthesis was 0.45~2.80 mg/(mg·h) in the surveyed stations.