Phytoplankton biomass and size fractions in surface waters of the Australian sector of the southern ocean |
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| Authors: | Wendy Ehnert C Peter McRoy |
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| Institution: | (1) Austin E. Lathrop High School, 901 Airport Way, Fairbanks, AK, 99701, U.S.A.;(2) Institute of Marine Science, School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | We collected surface water along the 142nd E meridian from Tasmania to Antarctica in December 1999. We measured temperature,
salinity and total chlorophyll a; additionally, we collected suspended particle size fractions and used fluorometric analysis to determine the quantity of
chlorophyll a in each of four cell size classes: picoplankton (<3 μm), two nanoplankton fractions (3–10 μm and 10–20 μm) and microplankton
(> 20 μm). Changes in temperature and salinity show that we crossed 6 water masses separated by 5 fronts. We found low abundance
(<0.2 mg m−3) of chlorophyll in all size classes, with the exception of higher values near the continent (0.2 to 0.4 mg m−3). Lowest chlorophyll values (<0.1 mg m−3) were found in the Polar Frontal Zone (51° to 54°S). Microplankton made up the largest portion of total chlorophyll throughout
most of the region. We conclude that biomass of all phytoplankton fractions, especially pico-and nanoplankton, was constrained
by limiting factors, most probably iron, throughout the region and that ecosystem dynamics within a zone are not circumpolar
but are regionalized within sectors. |
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| Keywords: | Southern Ocean phytoplankton chlorophyll size fractions surface temperature and salinity |
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