English

A unique warm–water oasis in the Siberian Arctic’s Chaun Bay sustained by hydrothermal groundwater discharge

Communications Earth & Environment ()

https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01529-x

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1 Akvaplan-niva (nåværende ansatt)

Forfattere (23)
  1. Alexander N. Charkin
  2. Ksenia N. Kosobokova
  3. Elizaveta Ershova
  4. Vitaly L. Syomin
  5. Glafira D. Kolbasova
  6. Pavel Yu. Semkin
  7. Andrey E. Leusov
  8. Oleg V. Dudarev
  9. Timofey A. Gulenko
  10. Elena I. Yaroshchuk
  11. Anatoly M. Startsev
  12. Pavel A. Fayman
  13. Vladislav A. Krasikov
  14. Sergey A. Zverev
  15. Elena A. Bessonova
  16. Alexander S. Ulyantsev
  17. Evgeny V. Elovsky
  18. Daria A. Yurikova
  19. Kirill A. Kobyakov
  20. Olga L. Zimina
  21. Alexandra V. Gerasimova
  22. Peter P. Tishchenko
  23. Alexander A. Didov

Abstract

Chaun Bay, located on the fringe of the East Siberian Sea, has been described since the mid-20th century to support a unique marine ecosystem that is atypical for the local Siberian Arctic. Here we use ship-board physical, biogeochemical and geological measurements taken in October 2020, along with hydrographic observations taken from land-fast ice in April 2023, to demonstrate that these warm-water biological communities are supported by hydrothermal submarine groundwater discharge that delivers heat, salinity, nutrients, and trace elements to the bay. We identify a cyclonic eddy that mixes the warm nutrient-rich groundwater with oxygen-rich surface water, resulting in a water mass within Chaun Bay that has similar physical and chemical properties to the highly productive waters of the North Pacific and Southern Chukchi Sea. The bay showed elevated concentrations of chlorophyll-a and zooplankton, and the abundance and species diversity of epibenthos significantly exceeded values observed elsewhere in the East Siberian Sea. The benthic communities contained a number of boreal species that are not typically found in the Arctic Ocean. We also observed Thysanoessa krill populations, a pelagic species generally considered an expatriate in Arctic waters.

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