Co-Convenors:
Franz Mueter (USA)
Enrique Curchitser (USA)
Kenneth Drinkwater (Norway / ICES)
Sen Tok Kim (Russia)
Hiroshi Kuroda (Japan)
Sei-Ichi Saitoh (Japan)
Invited Speaker:
Georgina Gibson (International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA)
The advection of water masses and their associated nutrients and plankton is critical to biological processes within the subarctic gyres and on the productive shelf regions bordering the gyre. Cross-shelf and along-shelf advection regulate the supply of nutrients and plankton to these shelves, thereby affecting the productivity and species composition of the prey organisms that support higher trophic levels. Moreover, the advection of larvae to suitable nursery areas affects the spatial and temporal overlap between larvae and their prey and predators (match-mismatch dynamics). Advective processes have been linked to the recruitment success of walleye pollock off Japan and in the Gulf of Alaska, which benefit from increased retention within certain near-shore regions, and to recruitment patterns of flatfishes and crab in the eastern Bering Sea, which benefit from increased advection towards suitable nursery areas. Interannual variability in advection has long been understood as an important source of biological variability, while variability at shorter time scales (days to weeks) has only recently received more attention due to the increased availability of high-frequency observations and the development of highresolution models. The main goal of this session is to explore how variability in the advection of nutrients, zooplankton prey, and early life stages at all scales affects the recruitment, abundance and distribution of subarctic fish and invertebrate species, including the potential to extend their range into Arctic waters. We invite papers that explore past variability and potential future trends based on field observations, analyses of long-term data series, and biophysical models. Contributions from both the Pacific and Atlantic Subarctic are welcome.
