ACTIVE CYCLING OF ORGANIC-CARBON IN THE CENTRAL ARCTIC-OCEAN

THE notion of a barren central Arctic Ocean has been accepted since En glish's pioneering work(1) on drifting ice-islands. The year-round pre sence of ice, a short photosynthetic season and low temperatures were thought to severely limit biological production(1,2), although the pau city of data was often noted. Because primary production appeared to b e low(1,2), subsequent studies assumed that most organic carbon was ei ther derived from river inputs or imported from adjacent continental-s helf regions(3,4). Here we present shipboard measurements of biologica l production, biomass and organic carbon standing-stocks made during a cruise through the ice covering the central Arctic Ocean. Our results indicate that the central Arctic region is not a biological desert. A lthough it is less productive than oligotrophic ocean regions not cove red by ice, it supports an active biological community which contribut es to the cycling of organic carbon through dissolved and particulate pools.