Hydrochemistry measured on water bottle samples during METEOR cruise M10/1, supplement to: Passow, Uta; Peinert, Rolf (1993): The role of plankton in particle flux; two case studies from the northeast Atlantic. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 40(1-2), 573-585

The relationship between the vertical flux of microplankton and its standing stock in the upper ocean was determined in the subtropical (33°N, 21°W) and tropical (18°N, 30°W) northeast Atlantic in spring 1989 as part of the North Atlantic Bloom Experiment.In the subtropical area specific sedimentati...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Passow, Uta, Peinert, Rolf
Format: Dataset
Language:English
Published: PANGAEA - Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science 1993
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.65476
https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.65476
Description
Summary:The relationship between the vertical flux of microplankton and its standing stock in the upper ocean was determined in the subtropical (33°N, 21°W) and tropical (18°N, 30°W) northeast Atlantic in spring 1989 as part of the North Atlantic Bloom Experiment.In the subtropical area specific sedimentation rates at all depths were low (0.1% of standing stock) and 10-20% of settled particulate organic carbon (POC) was viable diatoms. The high contribution of viable diatoms, their empty frustules and tintinnid loricae to settled material characterized a system in transition between a diatom bloom sedimentation event and an oligotrophic summer situation.In the tropical area specific sedimentation rates were similar, but absolute rates (3 mg C m?2 day?1) were only about a third of those in the subtropical area. Microplankton carbon contributed only 2-6% to POC. Hard parts of heterotrophs found embedded in amorphous detrital matter suggest that particles had passed through a complex food web prior to sedimentation. Coccolithophorids, not diatoms dominated the autotrophic fraction in traps, and a shift in the composition of autotrophs may indicate a perturbation of the oligotrophic system.