Plankton patchiness investigated using simultaneous nitrate and chlorophyll observations
The complex patterns observed in marine phytoplankton distributions arise from the interplay of biological and physical processes, but the nature of the balance remains uncertain centuries after the first observations. Previous observations have shown a consistent trend of decreasing variability wit...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
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Online Access: | http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513669/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513669/7/Gennip_et_al-2016-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans.pdf https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513669/1/VanGennip_manuscript_JGR.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC011789 |
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:513669 2023-05-15T17:33:06+02:00 Plankton patchiness investigated using simultaneous nitrate and chlorophyll observations van Gennip, Simon Martin, Adrian P. Srokosz, Meric A. Allen, John T. Pidcock, Rosalind Painter, Stuart C. Stinchcombe, Mark C. 2016-06 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513669/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513669/7/Gennip_et_al-2016-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans.pdf https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513669/1/VanGennip_manuscript_JGR.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC011789 en eng https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513669/7/Gennip_et_al-2016-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans.pdf https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513669/1/VanGennip_manuscript_JGR.pdf van Gennip, Simon; Martin, Adrian P. orcid:0000-0002-1202-8612 Srokosz, Meric A. orcid:0000-0002-7347-7411 Allen, John T.; Pidcock, Rosalind; Painter, Stuart C.; Stinchcombe, Mark C. 2016 Plankton patchiness investigated using simultaneous nitrate and chlorophyll observations. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 121 (6). 4149-4156. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC011789 <https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC011789> cc_by_4 CC-BY Marine Sciences Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2016 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC011789 2023-02-04T19:43:06Z The complex patterns observed in marine phytoplankton distributions arise from the interplay of biological and physical processes, but the nature of the balance remains uncertain centuries after the first observations. Previous observations have shown a consistent trend of decreasing variability with decreasing length-scale. Influenced by similar scaling found for the properties of the water that the phytoplankton inhabit, ‘universal' theories have been proposed that simultaneously explain the variability seen from meters to hundreds of kilometers. However, data on the distribution of phytoplankton alone has proved insufficient to differentiate between the many causal mechanisms that have been suggested. Here we present novel observations from a cruise in the North Atlantic in which fluorescence (proxy for phytoplankton), nitrate and temperature were measured simultaneously at scales from 10 m to 100 km for the first time in the open ocean. These show a change in spectra between the small scale (10–100 m) and the mesoscale (10–100 km) which is different for the three tracers. We discuss these observations in relation to the current theories for phytoplankton patchiness. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 121 6 4149 4156 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
topic |
Marine Sciences |
spellingShingle |
Marine Sciences van Gennip, Simon Martin, Adrian P. Srokosz, Meric A. Allen, John T. Pidcock, Rosalind Painter, Stuart C. Stinchcombe, Mark C. Plankton patchiness investigated using simultaneous nitrate and chlorophyll observations |
topic_facet |
Marine Sciences |
description |
The complex patterns observed in marine phytoplankton distributions arise from the interplay of biological and physical processes, but the nature of the balance remains uncertain centuries after the first observations. Previous observations have shown a consistent trend of decreasing variability with decreasing length-scale. Influenced by similar scaling found for the properties of the water that the phytoplankton inhabit, ‘universal' theories have been proposed that simultaneously explain the variability seen from meters to hundreds of kilometers. However, data on the distribution of phytoplankton alone has proved insufficient to differentiate between the many causal mechanisms that have been suggested. Here we present novel observations from a cruise in the North Atlantic in which fluorescence (proxy for phytoplankton), nitrate and temperature were measured simultaneously at scales from 10 m to 100 km for the first time in the open ocean. These show a change in spectra between the small scale (10–100 m) and the mesoscale (10–100 km) which is different for the three tracers. We discuss these observations in relation to the current theories for phytoplankton patchiness. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
van Gennip, Simon Martin, Adrian P. Srokosz, Meric A. Allen, John T. Pidcock, Rosalind Painter, Stuart C. Stinchcombe, Mark C. |
author_facet |
van Gennip, Simon Martin, Adrian P. Srokosz, Meric A. Allen, John T. Pidcock, Rosalind Painter, Stuart C. Stinchcombe, Mark C. |
author_sort |
van Gennip, Simon |
title |
Plankton patchiness investigated using simultaneous nitrate and chlorophyll observations |
title_short |
Plankton patchiness investigated using simultaneous nitrate and chlorophyll observations |
title_full |
Plankton patchiness investigated using simultaneous nitrate and chlorophyll observations |
title_fullStr |
Plankton patchiness investigated using simultaneous nitrate and chlorophyll observations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Plankton patchiness investigated using simultaneous nitrate and chlorophyll observations |
title_sort |
plankton patchiness investigated using simultaneous nitrate and chlorophyll observations |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513669/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513669/7/Gennip_et_al-2016-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans.pdf https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513669/1/VanGennip_manuscript_JGR.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC011789 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513669/7/Gennip_et_al-2016-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans.pdf https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513669/1/VanGennip_manuscript_JGR.pdf van Gennip, Simon; Martin, Adrian P. orcid:0000-0002-1202-8612 Srokosz, Meric A. orcid:0000-0002-7347-7411 Allen, John T.; Pidcock, Rosalind; Painter, Stuart C.; Stinchcombe, Mark C. 2016 Plankton patchiness investigated using simultaneous nitrate and chlorophyll observations. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 121 (6). 4149-4156. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC011789 <https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC011789> |
op_rights |
cc_by_4 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC011789 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
container_volume |
121 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
4149 |
op_container_end_page |
4156 |
_version_ |
1766131492182818816 |