1OPTICAL VARIABILITY IN COASTAL WATERS OF THE NORTHWEST ATLANTIC

• Main Authors: Heidi M. Sosik, Rebecca E. Green, Robert J. Olson
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Northwest Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.565.7944; http://www.whoi.edu/science/B/sosiklab/1173HS.pdf

Measurements of spatial and temporal variability in optical properties of northwest Atlantic coastal waters were made in 1996 and 1997. As part of the Coastal Mixing and Optics Experiment, two three-week periods were intensively sampled: during late summer 1996 highly stratified conditions were disrupted by the passage of Hurricane Edouard, and in spring 1997 increasing stratification and a modest phytoplankton bloom occurred. Vertical and temporal patterns in water column optical properties were very different between the two periods, with both inherent and apparent optical properties exhibiting subsurface peaks in late summer and near surface peaks during spring. Most variability was associated with particle distributions and optically important particles were primarily phytoplankton, which were numerically dominated by cyanobacteria in late summer and by larger eukaryotic cells in the spring. We also describe here a new observational program in Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank waters. Spatial and temporal mapping of inherent and apparent optical properties is currently being implemented using a towed vehicle and a profiling mooring. Using these platforms, distributions of optical properties are being assessed contemporaneously with multi-frequency acoustic backscattering and video imaging surveys for assessing plankton distributions.