Growth and Phenomenology of Phytoplankton Thin Layers in the Gulf of Maine

Abstract

Our overarching long-term goal is to understand what controls phytoplankton distribution, optical properties and production in the coastal ocean. Our project-specific goals were to understand the mechanisms responsible for the creation, maintenance and demise of subsurface phytoplankton layers in the Gulf of Maine and to determine the vertical distribution of toxigenic species of Alexandrium in the Gulf of Maine. The primary objectives of the past year's work were: 1) to continue to analyze data from the 2005 and 2006 field programs in the Gulf of Maine to better understand how the subsurface distributions of phytoplankton and suspended particles are controlled by light, nitrate and density structure over a broad range of hydrographic conditions and to understand how distributions of toxigenic species of Alexandrium in the Gulf of Maine are related to the overall distribution of bulk phytoplankton and hydrographic properties and 2) to prepare results for publication.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2008
Accession Number
ADA517444

Entities

People

  • David W. Townsend
  • Mary J. Perry

Organizations

  • University of Maine

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Absorption Coefficients
  • Aquatic Organisms
  • Cape Hatteras
  • Chlorophylls
  • Deep Water
  • Fluorescence
  • Geographic Regions
  • High Resolution
  • Light Transmission
  • Marine Biology
  • Oceanography
  • Optical Properties
  • Particles
  • Phytoplankton
  • Plankton
  • Underwater Gliders
  • Water

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Microbial Pathology
  • Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Modeling, Data Assimilation, and Flux Boundary Layers
  • Oceanography.