Effects of Langmuir Circulations On the Plankton.
Abstract
The objective in this work was to establish whether the plankton is affected by Langmuir Circulations (LCs). LCs are wind and wave induced flows in the mixed layer (ML) and comprised of counter-rotating, helical cells aligned with the wind. Observations were from FLIP in April-May 1996. The plankton and its environment were sampled by continuous vertical profiling and at a single depth within the ML. In LCs, tongues' of deep, cool water penetrating the mixed layer coincided with acoustically-sensed upward velocities associated with LCs. Chlorophyll a showed vertical gradients and layers in stratified conditions and was well-mixed by LCs. Geostatistical analysis with variograms showed significant pattern existed for temperature in LCs in the horizontal but not in the vertical and no significant pattern in LCs for the sampled zooplankton. In essence, it appears that the observed LCs were sufficiently intense to mix the zooplankton and disperse patches. Significant results of our work are, first, discovery of the zooplankton patch dispersal by LCs in the open ocean; second, the value of concurrent, high-resolution physical and biological measurements on comparable time and space scales; and, third, the need for rigorous statistical analysis of such data.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 26, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA376907
Entities
People
- David M. Checkley
Organizations
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography