Photosynthetic Pigment Investigations in the North Atlantic Ocean (FY89-90)

• Main Author: Bidigare, Robert R.
• Other Authors: HAWAII UNIV HONOLULU DEPT OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1990
• Subjects: Biological Oceanography; *BIOLUMINESCENCE; DINOFLAGELLATA; DISTRIBUTION; SITES; LIGHT; SPECTRA; RADIANCE; DIAGNOSIS(GENERAL); SIGNATURES; MARINE BIOLOGY; MARKERS; MAPPING; ABSORPTION; OCEANS; PIGMENTS; NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN; PRODUCTION RATE; PHYTOPLANKTON; ALGAE; MOORING; MARINE GEOPHYSICS; BIOMASS CONVERSION; PHOTOSYNTHESIS; ORGANIC PIGMENTS; MEASUREMENT; OPTICAL PROPERTIES; *UPPER OCEAN PHYSICS; OCEAN MODELS; PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES; ALGAL BIOMASS; DIATOXANTHIN; PERIDININ; BIOMARKERS; SPECTRAL IRRADIATION; MIXED LAYER(MARINE); North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA245361; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA245361

The major focus of the Marine Bioluminescence and Upper Ocean Physics Program (Marine Light-Mixed Layer, MLML) is to understand and predict the spatio-temporal variability of the bioluminescent light field in the upper ocean. Successful fulfillment of this objective requires the development of mechanistic models which describe interactions among important optical, biological and physical processes. The major scientific objectives of this current research task are to: (1) develop models for accurately predicting phytoplankton absorption signatures, algal biomass and primary production rates from optical measurements performed from untended moorings: (2) use plant pigments as diagnostic markers for investigating phytoplanton distributions as the class level: (3) estimate rates of upper-ocean mixing from measurements of diadinoxanthin and diatoxanthin concentrations: (4) assess the usefulness of peridinin as a biomarker for mapping bioluminescent dinoflagellate distributions: and (5) identify the principal agents responsible for the absorption of spectral irradiance at the MLML mooring site.