A one-dimensional ecological model of summer oxygen distributions within the Chukchi Sea

A one-dimensional numerical model was constructed to simulate phytoplankton nutrient uptake, production and oxygen evolution within the Chukchi Sea. Included were estimates of grazing and respiration by both zooplankton herbivores and benthos. The patterns of surface water oxygen saturations from the 1922–1924 drift of the Maud and 1968–1969 ice-breaker cruises in the Chukchi Sea were simulated using this model. The variation between the surface oxygen saturation in the East Siberian Sea and the surface oxygen saturation of the western Chukchi Sea (measured by the Maud) is found to be a result of light limitation of phytoplankton growth (due to ice cover in the East Siberian Sea). The variation in the 1968–1969 oxygen data between the east and west Chukchi Sea is due instead to biogenic nutrient variations between these two regions.