Effects of a Submesoscale Oceanographic Filament on Zooplankton Dynamics in the Arctic Marginal Ice Zone

Submesoscale structures, characterized by intense vertical and horizontal velocities, potentially play a crucial role in oceanographic dynamics pelagic fluxes. Due to their small spatial scale short temporal persistence, conditions for situ measurements are challenging thus the of such structures zooplankton distribution is still unclear. During RV Polarstern expedition PS107 Arctic Fram Strait July/August 2017, submesoscale filament was detected, which initiated an ad hoc biological sampling campaign. To determine taxonomic composition, distribution, abundance biomass, MultiNet hauls (depth intervals: 300–200–100–50–10–0 m) were taken at four stations across filament. Zooplankton data evaluated context with physical-oceanographic observations assess physical-biological interactions. Our show that features considerably impact dynamics. While structuring pelagial distinct communities as well dimension, they accumulate biomass epipelagic species site convergence. Further, high-velocity jets associated possibly major importance allocation connectivity, accelerating instance processes ‘Atlantification’ Arctic. Thus, affect surrounding ecosystem multiple ways consequences higher trophic levels biogeochemical cycles.