Ecological investigations on the plankton community of Balsfjorden, Northern Norway

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Abstract
The ‘Balsfjord Project’, is an inter-disciplinary research project which concentrates on fish, shell-fish, plankton, and hydrography. In this paper aspects of physical environment relevant to the ecology of phytoplankton and Zooplankton communities in Balsfjorden are presented. Balsfjorden is a single basin (max. depth c. 195 m) fjord separated from the surrounding coastal waters and sounds by shallow sills. It is a cold-water fjord with temperatures from c. 1–7° C during most of the year. Salinity varies from c. 32.80–34.00 %. Temperature and salinity tend to increase slightly with increasing depth. Variations in density are closely related to salinity. Conditions are aerobic, with an oxygen content of 70-120 % saturation. Stratification starts in May and lasts until September. Fresh-water run-off, due to melt water, peaks in June. The pycnocline oscillates around 10 m. A yearly inflow of heavier and warmer Atlantic water occurs, starting in the spring, resulting in deep-water renewal in the basin. Relatively strong winds blow out of the fjord from September to April, and are probably very important in setting up the fjord circulation system in winter. The light climate changes greatly during the year, varying from winter darkness to summer midnight sun. The delay period between the spring increase in solar radiation and subsequent increase in water temperature are great, resulting in markedly out of phase light-temperature regimes.

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