MEPS 123:295-300 (1995)  -  doi:10.3354/meps123295

During 'Meteor' Cruise 17 in July 1991, bottom water and sediment samples were taken from 3 stations on a 3.7 km long transect along the continental slope of the western Barents Sea between 74* 58.3' N, 14* 44.8' E and 74* 59.8' N, 14* 40.1' E, across an area occupied by macrofauna feeding at the sediment-water interface at 1340 m water depth. Profiles of oxygen, total particulate matter, total inorganic matter, particulate organic carbon, bacterial abundance and chlorophyll equivalents were taken in the benthic boundary layer (10 to 40 cm height above the sea floor). Between the upstream and downstream stations total particulate matter and particulate organic carbon decreased by 41 and 23%, respectively, at a height of between 10 and 25 cm above the seabed. Chlorophyll equivalents in the bottom water increased by 85%, in the sediments by 56%. Abundance of macrofauna showed no significant correlation to bottom water and sediment data. Compared to vertical particle fluxes, as determined from sediment trap data, particle fluxes to the sea floor were corrected by a lateral advection factor of 2 to 3.7.

Experiment . Depletion of seston . Interface feeder . Continental slope . Barents Sea