Showing 1 - 7 of 7 Items

Date: 2023-01-01

Creator: Lemona Yingzhuo Niu

Access: Open access

Tidal Mixing Fronts (TMFs) are prominent hydrographic features of tidally energetic shallow shelf seas, representing the transition from mixed to stratified waters. These frontal boundaries often host enhanced phytoplankton primary productivity, as complete vertical mixing exhumes nutrients from depth to the light-lit surface. Existing observational programs for locating TMFs include infra-red satellite imagery of sea surface temperature (SST) and vertical profiling of temperature and density. However, challenges in observationally distinguishing mixed from mixing using only conservatively mixed hydrographic properties persist. A novel approach based on phytoplankton in-situ oxygen production response to light is proposed in this paper to distinguish stable mixed from actively mixing regimes, and thus to identify remnant versus active TMFs. This project focuses on Harpswell Sound, a shallow (< 40m) coastal reverse estuary, as a case study of TMF dynamics. Our data unambiguously reveal the cross-shelf structure of active, mixed, and stratified regimes. Competition between wind mixing and buoyancy due to solar heating and river plumes were found to be the primary drivers of the active and remnant front locations, while tidal currents were a secondary driver. Such dynamism explains both the temporally variable and spatially patchy phytoplankton blooms observed in the shallow shelf sea environment of Harpswell Sound.

• Embargo End Date: 2026-05-20

Date: 2021-01-01

Creator: Zoë Alexandra Dietrich

Access: Embargoed

Date: 2016-05-01

Creator: Lloyd B Anderson

Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community

Date: 2015-01-01

Creator: Charles E. Umbanhowar, Philip Camill, Mark B. Edlund, Christoph Geiss, Patrick, Henneghan, Kendra Passow

Access: Open access

To better understand aquatic-terrestrial linkages in the sub-Arctic, and specifically the relative importance of landscape position versus land cover, we surveyed lakes, soils, land cover, and lake/basin characteristics in a 14000 km region of acidic forest-tundra landscape near northern Manitoba, Canada (59.56°N, 97.72°W) in 2009. We analyzed 39 different biological, chemical, and physical variables for lakes and soils. We used a remote-sensing-based classification to determine that the landscape was 21% water, 46% peat-forming lowland, and 24.9% open tundra, and we assigned lake order to all lakes based on the order of the outlet stream for each lake. Lakes were oligotrophic to mesotrophic (median total phosphorus: TP = 11.8 μg L ), N-limited (median dissolved inorganic nitrogen: TP = 1.6), acidic (median pH 5.7), and had moderate amounts of dissolved organic carbon (median DOC = 5.2 mg L ). We identified 2 principle groups of variables represented by DOC and conductivity/ cations, respectively, that captured major axes of lake variation. DOC, 2 measures of DOC quality (a /a [a proxy for molecular weight and aromaticity] and specific ultraviolet absorbance), and Fe and were significantly correlated with percent cover of lowland forest, but conductivity/cations were not correlated with variation in land cover. Soils were generally acidic (pH 2.7-4.4) and nutrient-poor, and wetland soils contained more carbon and higher concentrations of calcium, magnesium, and other cations than upland open tundra. Landscape position of lakes (measured as lake order) did not capture systematic differences in land cover or lake biogeochemistry. Our results highlight the importance of lowland export of DOC to lakes and further suggest the need for additional regional studies of aquatic-terrestrial connections in Arctic and sub-Arctic landscapes. 2 -1 -1 250 365

Date: 2021-01-01

Creator: Eugen Florin Cotei

Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community

Date: 2023-01-01

Creator: Charlie Francis O'Brien

Access: Open access

Harpswell Sound (HS) is an inlet in northeastern Casco Bay that exerts control on Gulf of Maine ecosystem health, yet its complex phytoplankton community dynamics have not been characterized with sufficiently detailed analyses. In this research, high-resolution automated microscopy and current velocity observations were used to test the seasonality, ecological succession, bloom origin location, and potential toxicity of populations in HS between 2020 and 2022. Winter months could exhibit slow accumulation of diatom biovolume. Cold, salty surface water has net outflow in winter as nutrients from depth are replenished during net upwelling conditions, and populations could be exported from the inlet at the surface. Extreme current velocity variability in spring due to the Kennebec River plume in HS destabilizes spatially uniform populations. Warm, low-salinity surface water with net inflow in summer (net downwelling which retains populations at the head of the sound) corresponds with temporally separate dinoflagellate and diatom blooms. Large, multi-peaked spring and fall diatom blooms are recurrent, contrasting small, short-lived blooms in summer. A successional pattern from diatoms to dinoflagellates is confirmed for summer but refuted for other seasons. The hypothesis that diatom succession during all blooms in HS is characterized by large centric cells preceding small cells or pennate cells was explored but no clear pattern in decreasing cell size was observed. Observed tidal effects on biovolume concentration could mask that blooms develop at coherent times but spatially separated. A diverse community of toxic phytoplankton, including dinoflagellates and Pseudonitzschia, are observed throughout the year.

• Embargo End Date: 2028-05-18

Date: 2023-01-01

Creator: Ana Gunther

Access: Embargoed