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Distribution and characteristics of marine habitats in a subpolar bay based on hydroacoustics and bed shear stress estimates—Potter Cove, King George Island, Antarctica

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Abstract

Marine habitats worldwide are increasingly pressurized by climate change, especially along the Antarctic Peninsula. Well-studied areas in front of rapidly retreating tidewater glaciers like Potter Cove are representative for similar coastal environments and, therefore, shed light on habitat formation and development on not only a local but also regional scale. The objective of this study was to provide insights into habitat distribution in Potter Cove, King George Island, Antarctica, and to evaluate the associated environmental processes. Furthermore, an assessment concerning the future development of the habitats is provided. To describe the seafloor habitats in Potter Cove, an acoustic seabed discrimination system (RoxAnn) was used in combination with underwater video images and sediment samples. Due to the absence of wave and current measurements in the study area, bed shear stress estimates served to delineate zones prone to sediment erosion. On the basis of the investigations, two habitat classes were identified in Potter Cove, namely soft-sediment and stone habitats that, besides influences from sediment supply and coastal morphology, are controlled by sediment erosion. A future expansion of the stone habitat is predicted if recent environmental change trends continue. Possible implications for the Potter Cove environment, and other coastal ecosystems under similar pressure, include changes in biomass and species composition.

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Acknowledgements

This study is part of the ESF IMCOAST project (grant no. 03F0617A) and the EU project IMCONet (FP7 IRSES, action no. 319718). The authors acknowledge the IAA (Instituto Antártico Argentino, Buenos Aires, Argentina) for providing bathymetric data. Many thanks go to Prof. Changsheng Chen, Dr. Jianhua Qi and the MEDM research group in SMAST, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, for providing the FVCOM source codes and advisory help. We would also like to express our gratitude to the crews of Carlini (formerly Jubany) Station from 2010/2011 and 2011/2012, with special thanks to Gastón Rihedel, Alejandro Ulrich, Verónica Fuentes, Alejandro Olariaga, Dolores Deregibus, Nina Wittenberg, Eduardo Ruiz Barlett and Marta Sierra for their unfailing support during field campaigns. Two anonymous reviewers are thanked for their constructive comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alfred Wegener Institute, Wadden Sea Research Station, 25992, List, Germany

    Anne-Cathrin Wölfl & H. Christian Hass

  2. ICBM, Physical Oceanography, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany

    Chai Heng Lim, Karsten Alexander Lettmann & Jörg-Olaf Wolff

  3. Institute of Geology and Paleontology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Sebastian Lindhorst

  4. Instituto Antártico Argentino, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Gabriela Tosonotto

  5. Alfred Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven, Germany

    Gerhard Kuhn & Doris Abele

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  1. Anne-Cathrin Wölfl
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  2. Chai Heng Lim
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  3. H. Christian Hass
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  4. Sebastian Lindhorst
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  5. Gabriela Tosonotto
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  9. Doris Abele
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Correspondence to Anne-Cathrin Wölfl.

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Wölfl, AC., Lim, C.H., Hass, H.C. et al. Distribution and characteristics of marine habitats in a subpolar bay based on hydroacoustics and bed shear stress estimates—Potter Cove, King George Island, Antarctica. Geo-Mar Lett 34, 435–446 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-014-0375-1

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