Biogeosciences, 16, 2683–2691, 2019 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-2683-2019 © Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Collection of large benthic invertebrates in sediment traps in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica Minkyoung Kim1, Eun Jin Yang2, Hyung Jeek Kim3, Dongseon Kim3, Tae-Wan Kim2, Hyoung Sul La2, SangHoon Lee2, and Jeomshik Hwang1 1School of Earth and Environmental Sciences/Research Institute of Oceanography, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, South Korea 2Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, 21990, South Korea 3Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, Busan, 49111, South Korea Correspondence: Jeomshik Hwang (
[email protected]) Received: 18 February 2019 – Discussion started: 6 March 2019 Revised: 4 June 2019 – Accepted: 18 June 2019 – Published: 11 July 2019 Abstract. To study sinking particle sources and dynamics, other seasons (Ducklow et al., 2015; Kim et al., 2015, 2019). sediment traps were deployed at three sites in the Amund- Biogeochemical processes related to biological pump in the sen Sea for 1 year from February–March 2012 and at one Amundsen Sea have been investigated by recent field cam- site from February 2016 to February 2018. Unexpectedly, paigns (Arrigo and Alderkamp, 2012; Yager et al., 2012; large benthic invertebrates were found in three sediment traps Meredith et al., 2016; Lee et al., 2017). deployed 130–567 m above the sea floor. The organisms in- Sediment traps were deployed in the Amundsen Sea to cluded long and slender worms, a sea urchin, and juvenile study sinking material flux and composition. Sampling oc- scallops of varying sizes.