Seasonal Wind Forcing as It Affects Cellular Optics of Natural Populations of Microorganisms in the Arabian Sea
Abstract
LONG-TERM GOALS. We wish to predict changes in biological optics due to physical forcing in the upper layers of the oceans. There exists a growing perception that physical processes may directly influence the diversity of micro-organisms in the oceans. The observed effect is really the result of nutritional physiology: limiting nutrient conditions favor the growth of smaller species, while conditions of nutrient enrichment favor larger species. Observations in areas of low and high productivity tend to support this hypothesis, yet there is no quantitative model that will provide a prediction of the transition in cell size from an analysis of concentrations of nutrient scalars and their flux into the euphotic zone. SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVE. The main effort is to measure the change in phytoplankton cell size/optical packaging, inherent and apparent optical properties within a well defined nutrient/density field over the course of a major climatological cycle such as monsoonal wind forcing in the Arabian Sea. APPROACH. The basis of the observational program was the measurement of non-conservative properties within a three dimensional density field for two regions on either side of the Findlater Jet using a towed undulating instrument package (SeaSoar) during four cruises throughout the monsoonal cycle. Not all the instrumentation needed for this study could be fitted to the SeaSoar, so the strategy combined the SeaSoar activity with surface sampling and additional station activities to obtain samples at depth along a 900km offshore section and at numerous coastal stations. This strategy worked well for the five groups who coordinated during the experiment: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Naval Research Laboratory, Oregon State University, University of Southern California and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 30, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA635776
Entities
People
- Charles S. Yentsch
- David A. Phinney
Organizations
- Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences