Several years of monitoring in the northern Canadian Arctic Archipelago contrast with a lack of repeated measurements in Queen Maud Gulf. As sea ice cover declines and maritime traffic increases along the Northwest Passage, Queen Maud Gulf, including the protected national historic sites of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror wrecks, may experience drastic environmental changes. As part of the Kitikmeot Marine Ecosystems Study, moored oceanographic devices including a sediment trap were deployed in Queen Maud Gulf over three consecutive annual cycles from October 2015 to August 2018 to study the functioning of this geographic bottleneck along the Northwest Passage. Seasonal and interannual variability in total particulate matter (TPM), particulate organic carbon (POC), and microalgal fluxes were investigated in relation to wind speed, snow depth, sea ice cover, water temperature, and current velocity. Zooplankton and meroplankton present in the sediment trap were enumerated to monitor their composition and seasonal development. Landfast ice breakup consistently occurred in early June, followed by sea ice breakup in July. The release of sea ice algae was initiated in March 2016, May 2017, and June 2018, whereas peaks in diatom fluxes occurred in August or September. Sustained abundance of pelagic copepods and meroplankton suggested an ecosystem sufficiently productive to support the year‐round development of the pelagic and benthic communities. Elevated autumn TPM and POC fluxes reflected wind‐induced mixing and resuspension in the absence of ice cover. Our results provide a baseline for evaluating the impact of environmental changes on the Queen Maud Gulf marine ecosystem.

中文翻译：

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从沉积物陷阱测量得出的毛德皇后海湾生态系统的季节和年际变化

在加拿大北部北极群岛进行了数年的监测，与之相反的是，在毛德皇后湾缺乏重复测量。随着西北通道，毛德皇后湾（Queen Maud Gulf）西北通道海冰覆盖面积的减少和海上交通的增加，包括HMS Erebus和HMS Terror的受保护国家历史遗址残骸，可能会经历剧烈的环境变化。作为Kitikmeot海洋生态系统研究的一部分，从2015年10月至2018年8月，连续三个年度周期在毛德皇后海湾部署了包括沉积物陷阱在内的系泊海洋学设备，以研究西北通道沿线这一地理瓶颈的功能。研究了总颗粒物（TPM），颗粒有机碳（POC）和微藻通量的季节性和年际变化，这些变化与风速，雪深，海冰覆盖，水温和流速有关。列举了沉积物中存在的浮游动物和浮游生物，以监测其组成和季节变化。6月初，陆海冰破裂一直发生，随后在7月，海冰破裂。海冰藻类的释放始于2016年3月，2017年5月和2018年6月，而硅藻通量的峰值出现在8月或9月。中上层co足动物和浮游生物的持续丰富表明，该生态系统的生产力足以支持中上层和底栖生物群落的全年发展。秋季TPM和POC流量的增加反映了在没有冰盖的情况下风引起的混合和悬浮。我们的结果为评估环境变化对毛德皇后湾海洋生态系统的影响提供了基准。秋季TPM和POC流量的增加反映了在没有冰盖的情况下风引起的混合和悬浮。我们的结果为评估环境变化对毛德皇后湾海洋生态系统的影响提供了基准。秋季TPM和POC流量的增加反映了在没有冰盖的情况下风引起的混合和悬浮。我们的结果为评估环境变化对毛德皇后湾海洋生态系统的影响提供了基准。