TITLE:   Seasonal and interannual variability in particulate matter
         export in the neritic ecosystem west of the Antarctic 
         Peninsular: observations and mechanisms
AUTHOR:  DM Karl, T Houlihan, Raymond C. Smith, and Sharon Stammerjohn
DATE:    2-7 March 1997
PLACE:   Gordon Research Conference on Sea Ice Ecology, Ventura, CA
         Poster Presentation

ABSTRACT:  

 The role of the ocean as a reservoir in the global carbon cycle is dependent
largely upon the ability of the oceans to sequester carbon as particulate
materials exported from the euphotic zone.  Studies of the rates and
mechanisms of this so-called "biological pump" are of great contemporary
interest in biological oceanography.
 During austral spring-summer, phytoplankton blooms in the Antarctic Peninsula
can result in standing stocks of algae in excess of 20 mg chl a m-3 and
sustained rates of primary production exceeding 0.5-1 mol C m-2 d-1. Although
the bloom condition is well-documented, we know much less about the nature or
controls of the biological pump, especially the effects of seasonal forcing by
physical processes, including sea-ice dynamics.
 As one component of a multidisciplinary research project, the Palmer Long-Term
Ecological Research (Pal-LTER) program, we obtained year-round measurements
of sea-ice cover and the particulate matter export.  Except for the automatic
weather stations (AWS), these ice and particle flux data sets are the only
continuous measurements in the Pal-LTER program.  These data sets will be used
to test hypotheses concerning the relationships between sea-ice dynamics and
ecosystem function.  This poster constitutes a status report of these ongoing
studies.