What are the likely scenarios for climate change in the North Pacific and how would they influence the ecosystem?
This group discussed the potential impact of climate change caused by increased CO2 and other greenhouse gases from anthropogenic sources. Climate change would influence North Pacific ecosystems primarily through four physical factors: mixed layer depth (MLD), volume and location of marine habitat, sea ice, and river flows. Time variation in late spring/summer MLD is the physical oceanographic measurement which may correlate most highly with primary and secondary productivity in the coastal Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea shelf. Changes in marine habitat, thus the zoogeographic distribution of marine species, are expected to accompany ocean warming, with particular impacts on species at the edge of their ranges. Sea ice is foreseen to decrease both in space and seasonal duration, with effects on the Bering Sea’s primary productivity and distribution of many marine mammals. The overall magnitude and seasonal cycle of river flows may change significantly, with implications for coastal curr
