| NSF Org: |
OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | July 18, 2016 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | April 17, 2019 |
| Award Number: | 1603116 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Marc Stieglitz
mstiegli@nsf.gov (703)292-4354 OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | August 1, 2016 |
| End Date: | July 31, 2021 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $443,831.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $455,831.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2019 = $12,000.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
2145 N TANANA LOOP FAIRBANKS AK US 99775-0001 (907)474-7301 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
930 Koyukuk Drive Fairbanks AK US 99775-7340 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
ARCSS-Arctic System Science, ANS-Arctic Natural Sciences |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.078 |
ABSTRACT
As a result of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, the cold waters of the Arctic Ocean and its peripheral seas absorb more and more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This process, called ocean acidification, decreases the pH and consumes carbonate ions. Ocean acidification is further enhanced as the Arctic Ocean?s sea ice cover is reduced over longer periods of time each year. The fast chemical changes of the waters are detrimental to many marine organisms. In particular, it makes it more difficult for calcifying organisms to build their calcium carbonate shells or skeletons. Since many of the calcifying organisms exist at the base of the food chain, there are potentially important, but poorly understood, consequences for the marine ecosystem. This project will utilize and improve a numerical model of the physical circulation and biogeochemistry of the Chukchi Sea, a shallow sea peripheral to the Arctic Ocean, to study carbon dynamics and ocean acidification throughout the annual cycle.
This project will contribute to STEM workforce development through the provision of support to two early-career scientists during their formative years. It will also provide support for the training of a graduate student. Outreach to a local K-12 Aleut community will be enabled by participation in classroom activities during the annual "Bering Sea Days" on St. Paul Island. The resulting model results will be a resource for related studies of the marine carbon cycle in the Arctic, such as the international Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) program and the Arctic Marine Biodiversity Observing Network (AMBON).
Little is known about the carbon dynamics of the Chukchi Sea in fall, winter and spring due to limited spatial and temporal data coverage in this remote and often inaccessible area. This project will utilize moderately high-resolution three-dimensional ocean and ice circulation regional physical-biogeochemical numerical model (ROMS + COBALT) integrations to study Chukchi Sea carbon dynamics and ocean acidification throughout the year. Hindcasts (1979-present) will be forced by meteorological reanalysis products and will account for lateral transport from the Bering Sea and central Arctic as well as input of organic and inorganic carbon from rivers and sea-ice melt water. Specific project tasks will include: data-based evaluation of the simulated ocean biogeochemistry system fields; characterization of the patterns of carbon dioxide system variability for the Chukchi Sea across time-scales; partition of the underlying physical and biological mechanisms; quantification of the downstream transport of organic and inorganic carbon using dye tracers and Lagrangian floats; and analysis of the sensitivity of ecosystem processes to ocean acidification.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The project has led to an improved understanding of the current state of the inorganic carbon dynamics in the Arctic Ocean and how it changed as a result of ocean acidification and climate change since 1980. Ocean acidification is caused by the uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, leading to a decrease of seawater pH and the concentration of carbonate ions. Because carbon dioxide more easily dissolves in cold water, the Arctic Ocean has naturally low concentrations of carbonate ions. Carbonate ions are important building blocks for organisms that build their shells or skeletons from calcium carbonate minerals, such as aragonite. The combination of naturally low levels of carbonate ions and acidification of the Arctic Ocean poses an immediate risk to calcifying organisms such as mussels, crabs, and sea snails, as they have difficulties building their shells and skeletons in waters with lower concentrations of carbonate ions.
With support from the National Science Foundation, the researchers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks developed a new high-resolution ocean biogeochemical model to study the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on the chemical environment and ecosystem of the Arctic Ocean. The researchers combined a physical and biogeochemical ocean model to reproduce past chemical conditions across the Arctic Ocean from 1980-1984 and 2015-2019. The output of the physical simulation has already been widely used by the research community. This grant also supported participation during the Bering Sea Days on St. Paul Island in the Bering Sea, where a variety of hand-on experiments in K-12 classrooms were used to discuss the issues of ocean acidification with the Island?s local students.
Last Modified: 11/30/2021
Modified by: Claudine Hauri
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