TEMPANO Cruise, RV Hespérides

• Main Authors: Vaqué, Dolors, CSIC - Unidad de Tecnología Marina (UTM)
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2002
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/231893; https://doi.org/10.20351/29HE20021123

TEMPANO Cruise (29HE20021123) carried out on the Research Vessel Hespérides in 2002 The main objective of the project is to quantify experimentally how temperature affects the regulation of metabolic processes and possible changes in the structure of Antarctic planktonic communities and the implications this implies globally. These communities are composed of unicellular microorganisms that have sizes from less than 1 micron in diameter (bacterioplankton and archaea) to a few tens of microns (phytoplankton and protozoa) and multicellular organisms such as zooplankton (small crustaceans, krill). Phytoplankton are constituted by photosynthetic organisms, whereas bacterioplankton, protozoa (ciliates and flagellates) and zooplankton are mostly heterotrophs (consumers of organic matter, either dissolved and particulate). Part of this matter is breathed and returned to the environment in the form of CO2. The mere fact that the water temperature will increase 0.5 and 1 degree in an extreme system such as Antarctica will likely result in increased respiration (CO2 excretion) by heterotrophic organisms which, in part, could be fixed by phytoplankton. , or in the worst case, it could be released into the atmosphere, promoting the greenhouse effect and the global warming of the planet. Experiments related to primary production and temperature and light have been carried out