Vertical Microalga Flux in the Northern Laptev Sea
(From the Data Collected
by the Yearlong Sediment Trap)

V. V. Zernova*, E.-M. Nöthig**, and V. P. Shevchenko*

*Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
**Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Researches, Bremerhaven, Germany

Received January 18, 1999; in final form, June 28, 1999

Abstract—First studies of the microalga flux over the Lomonosov Ridge in the northern Laptev Sea were car-
ried out with a sediment trap at the yearlong mooring station LOMO-2, installed at a 150-m depth (8104.3 N;
13855.2 E, sea depth 1703 m) from September 15, 1995 to August 16, 1996. These studies demonstrated
essential seasonal variation of the vertical microalga flux. It was shown that, in summer, a diverse flora (com-
posed mainly of cryophylic diatoms) grows intensively beneath the permanent ice cover. Strongly pronounced
seasonal variations of the microalga growth correlate closely with the solar radiation. Exactly during the max-
imum insolation period, from the middle of July until the end of September, the microalga flux is hundreds of
times higher than that in the rest of the year. The summer values of the microalga flux over the Lomonosov
Ridge in the northern Laptev Sea are similar to those in the Weddell Sea in the Antarctic and exceed the summer
flux values in the Norwegian and Greenland Seas and in the St. Anna Trough (the northwestern Kara Sea).

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