ESSAS - Ecosystem Studies of Sub-Arctic Seas

Theme: Modeling and observational approaches to understanding marine ecosystem dynamics.

Objectives:
1. To discuss approaches to modeling the effects of ocean/climate variability on marine ecosystems,
2. To review their roles in supporting sustainable ecosystem services, and
3. To explore data needs to improve modeling of marine ecosystems.

This paper compares and contrasts the ecosystems of the Barents and Chukchi Seas. Despite their similarity in a number of features, the Barents Sea supports a vast biomass of commercially important fish, but the Chukchi does not. Here we examine a number of aspects of these two seas to ascertain how they are similar and how they differ. We then indentify processes and mechanisms that may be responsible for their similarities and differences.