Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-25wd4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T15:16:21.343Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The spatial and temporal development of the spring bloom during the JGOFS North Atlantic Bloom Experiment, 1989

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

A. R. Weeks ,
M. J. R. Fasham ,
J. Aiken ,
D. S. Harbour ,
J. F. Read  and
I. Bellan
A. R. Weeks
Affiliation:
Department of Oceanography, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO9 5NH
M. J. R. Fasham
Affiliation:
James Rennell Centre for Ocean Circulation, Chilworth Research Centre, Southampton, SOI 7NS
J. Aiken
Affiliation:
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 3DH
D. S. Harbour
Affiliation:
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 3DH
J. F. Read
Affiliation:
institute of Oceanographic Sciences Deacon Laboratory, Wormley, Godalming, Surrey, GU8 5UB
I. Bellan
Affiliation:
Department of Oceanography, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO9 5NH
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The south to north development of the spring bloom in the North Atlantic Ocean was observed during four cruises from April to August 1989. Transects with towed undulating instrumentation packages and CTD profiles on station were made between 42°N and 54°N, along 17°W and 20°W in April and between 47°N and 60°N along 20°N in May, June and July/August, giving vertical sections of temperature and chlorophyll concentration derived from in vivo fluorescence. These sections show the relationship between the onset of seasonal stratification and the initiation of the spring bloom. Supporting data from microscopic analysis of the major phytoplankton species show that the seasonal succession commenced with diatoms, followed in turn by coccolithophores, flagellates and dinoflagellates. During the development of summer stratification the mesoscale distribution of chlorophyll was strongly determined by the depth of the mixed layer, but once stratification had been firmly established higher chlorophyll values tended to be found within the warmer eddies (meanders). One possible explanation of this result is that phytoplankton growth is higher in the warmer eddies.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 73 , Issue 2 , May 1993 , pp. 253 - 282
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aiken, J., 1981. A chlorophyll sensor for automatic, remote, operation in the marine environment. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 4, 235–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aiken, J., 1985. The Undulating Oceanographic Recorder Mark 2. A multirole oceanographic sampler for mapping and modeling the biophysical marine environment. In Mapping strategies in chemical oceanography (ed. Zirino, A.), pp. 315–332. Washington, DC: American Chemical Society. [Advances in Chemistry Series, vol. 209.]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aiken, J. & Bellan, I., 1986. A simple hemispherical, logarithmic light sensor. In Ocean optics VIII (ed. Blizard, M. A.), pp. 211–216. Bellingham, Washington: Proceedings of the Society of Photo-Optic Instrumentation Engineers, vol. 637.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aiken, J. & Bellan, I., 1990. Optical oceanography: an assessment of a towed method. In Light and life in the sea (ed. Herring, P. J. et al.), pp. 39–57. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Angel, M. V. & Fasham, M. J. R., 1983. Eddies and biological processes. In Eddies in marine science (ed. Robinson, A. R.), pp. 492–524. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, A. F. & Denman, K. L., 1985. Phytoplankton patchiness: inferences from particle statistics. Journal of Marine Research, 43, 307–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, A. F. & Denman, K. L., 1989. Large-scale patchiness due to an annual plankton cycle. Journal of Geophysical Research, 94, 823–829.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Billett, D. S. M., Lampitt, R. S., Rice, A. L. & Mantoura, R. F. C., 1983. Seasonal sedimentation of phytoplankton to the deep-sea benthos. Nature, London, 302, 520–522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colebrook, J. M., 1982. Continuous plankton records: seasonal variations in the distribution and abundance of plankton in the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. Journal of Plankton Research, 4, 435–462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colebrook, J. M. & Taylor, A. H., 1979. Year-to-year changes in sea-surface temperature, North Atlantic and North Sea, 1948 to 1974. Deep-Sea Research, 26A, 825–850.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cullen, J. J., 1982. The deep chlorophyll maximum: comparing vertical profiles of chlorophyll a. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science, 39, 791–803.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denman, K. L. & Abbott, M. R., 1988. Time evolution of surface chlorophyll patterns from cross-spectrum analysis of satellite color images. Journal of Geophysical Research, 93, 6789–6798.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dessureault, J.-G., 1976. ‘Batfish’ a depth controllable towed body for collecting oceanographic data. Ocean Engineering, 3, 99–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eppley, R. W., 1972. Temperature and phytoplankton growth in the sea. Fishery Bulletin. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Washington, DC, 70, 1063–1085.Google Scholar
Eppley, R. W., Reid, F. M. H. & Strickland, J. D. H., 1970. The ecology of the plankton of La Jolla, California in the period April through September, 1967. Part III. Estimates of phytoplankton crop size, growth rate and primary production. Bulletin. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 17, 33–42.Google Scholar
Esaias, W. E., Feldman, G. C., McClain, C. R. & Elrod, J. A., 1986. Monthly satellite-derived phyto-plankton pigment distribution for the North Atlantic ocean basin. EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, 67, 835–837.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Falkowski, P. & Kiefer, D. A., 1985. Chlorophyll a fluorescence in phytoplankton: relationship to photosynthesis and biomass. Journal of Plankton Research, 7, 715–731.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fasham, M. J. R., 1978. The statistical and mathematical analysis of plankton patchiness. Oceanography and Marine Biology. Annual Review. London, 16, 43–79.Google Scholar
Fasham, M. J. R., Holligan, P. M. & Pugh, P. R., 1983. The spatial and temporal development of the spring phytoplankton bloom in the Celtic Sea, April 1979. Progress in Oceanography, 12, 87–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fasham, M. J. R., Platt, T., Irwin, B. & Jones, K., 1985. Factors affecting the spatial pattern of the deep chlorophyll maximum in the region of the Azores front. Progress in Oceanography, 14, 129–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glover, D. M. & Brewer, P. G., 1988. Estimates of wintertime mixed layer nutrient concentrations in the North Atlantic. Deep-Sea Research, 35, 1525–1546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gower, J. F. R., Denman, K. L. & Holyer, R. J., 1980. Phytoplankton patchiness indicates the fluctuation spectrum of mesoscale oceanic structure. Nature, London, 288, 157–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holligan, P. M. et al., 1984. Vertical distribution and partitioning of organic carbon in mixed, frontal and stratified waters of the English Channel. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 14, 111–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kovala, P. E. & Larrance, J. D., 1966. Computation of phytoplankton cell numbers, cell volume, cell surface and plasma volume, per liter, from microscopical counts. Special Report. Department of Oceanography, University of Washington, 38, 1–21.Google Scholar
McClain, C. R., Ishizaka, J. & Hofmann, E. E., 1990. Estimation of the processes controlling variability in phytoplankton pigment distributions on the southeastern U.S. continental shelf. Journal of Geophysical Research, 95, 20213–20235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Platt, T., Bird, D. F. & Sathyendranath, S., 1991. Critical depth and marine primary production. Proceedings of the Royal Society (B), 246, 205–217.Google Scholar
Raymont, J. E. G., 1980. Plankton and productivity in the oceans, 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Phytoplankton. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Read, J. F., Pollard, R. T., Gwilliam, T. J. P. & Hirst, C., 1991. SeaSoar data from the north east Atlantic, April 1989, collected on RRS ‘Discovery’ Cruise 181. Report. Institute of Oceanographic Sciences, Deacon Laboratory, no. 284, 83 pp.Google Scholar
Robinson, A. R. et al., 1993. Mesoscale and upper ocean variabilities during the 1989 JGOFS bloom study. Deep-Sea Research Part II, 40, 9–35.Google Scholar
Saunders, P. M., 1982. Circulation in the eastern North Atlantic. Journal of Marine Research, 40 (Supplement), 641–657.Google Scholar
Smetacek, V. & Passow, U., 1990. Spring bloom initiation and Sverdrup's critical-depth model. Limnology & Oceanography, 35, 228–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steele, J. H. (ed.), 1978. Spatial pattern in plankton communities. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strass, V. H., 1992; Chlorophyll patchiness caused by mesoscale upwelling at fronts. Deep-Sea Research, 39, 75–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strass, V. & Woods, J. D., 1988. Horizontal and seasonal variation of density and chlorophyll profiles between the Azores and Greenland. In Toward a theory on biological-physical interactions in the world ocean (ed. Rothschild, B. J.), pp. 113–136. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strass, V. H. & Woods, J. D., 1991. New production in the summer revealed by the meridional slope of the deep chlorophyll maximum. Deep-Sea Research, 38, 35–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strickland, J. H. D. & Parsons, T. R., 1972. A practical handbook of seawater analysis, 2nd ed. Bulletin. Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 167, 310 pp.Google Scholar
Sverdrup, H. U., 1953. On conditions for the vernal blooming of phytoplankton. Journal du Conseil, 18, 287–295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thiel, H. et al., 1988/1989. Phytodetritus on the deep-sea floor in a central oceanic region of the northeast Atlantic. Biological Oceanography, 6, 203–239.Google Scholar
Venrick, E. L., 1990. Mesoscale patterns of chlorophyll a in the central North Pacific. Deep-Sea Research, 37, 1017–1031.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weeks, A. et al., 1993. The physical and chemical environment and changes in community structure associated with bloom evolution: the Joint Global Flux Study North Atlantic bloom experiment. Deep-sea Research Part II, 40, 347–368.Google Scholar
Williams, R., 1990. Biological sampling at Ocean Weather Station ‘India’, 1971–1975. Unpublished report, Plymouth Marine Laboratory.Google Scholar
Woods, J. D., 1988. Mesoscale upwelling and primary production. In Toward a theory on biological-physical interactions in the world ocean (ed. Rothschild, B. J.), pp. 1–30. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.Google Scholar
Yentsch, C. S. & Menzel, D. W., 1963. A method for the determination of phytoplankton chlorophyll and phaeophytin by fluorescence. Deep Sea Research, 10, 221–231.Google Scholar
Yoder, J. A., McClain, C. R., Blanton, J. O. & Oey, L.-Y., 1987. Spatial scales in CZCS-chlorophyll imagery of the southeastern U.S. continental shelf. Limnology & Oceanography, 32, 929–941.CrossRefGoogle Scholar