Heidi M. Sosik

Massive phytoplankton blooms under Arctic Sea ice

In midsummer, diatoms have taken advantage of thinning ice cover to feed in nutrient-rich waters. Phytoplankton blooms over Arctic Ocean continental shelves are thought to be restricted to waters free of sea ice. Here, we document a massive phytoplankton bloom beneath fully consolidated pack ice far from the ice edge in the Chukchi Sea, where light transmission has increased in recent decades because of thinning ice cover and proliferation of melt ponds. The bloom was characterized by high diatom biomass and rates of growth and primary production. Evidence suggests that under-ice phytoplankton blooms may be more widespread over nutrient-rich Arctic continental shelves and that satellite-based estimates of annual primary production in these waters may be underestimated by up to 10-fold.

The Marine Microbial Eukaryote Transcriptome Sequencing Project (MMETSP): Illuminating the Functional Diversity of Eukaryotic Life in the Oceans through Transcriptome Sequencing.

Current sampling of genomic sequence data from eukaryotes is relatively poor, biased, and inadequate to address important questions about their biology, evolution, and ecology; this Community Page describes a resource of 700 transcriptomes from marine microbial eukaryotes to help understand their role in the worlds oceans.

Light absorption by phytoplankton, photosynthetic pigments and detritus in the California Current System

Abstract Pigment-specific absorption by total particulates, detritus and phytoplankton was measured throughout the euphotic zone at > 275 stations on three cruises off California in late 1991 and early 1992. A new spectral fluorescence method for assessing photosynthetically active absorption in natural samples was developed and applied. Spatial variability in specific absorption coefficients at the mesoscale was found to be as high as previously observed between mid- and high latitudes, while differences between cruises were very low. In surface waters, the highest values of specific absorption were found in warm, low-pigment surface waters offshore and in the Southern California Bight. Vertical sections reveal that low values occur near the surface only where the pycnocline and nitracline slope toward the sea surface. The highest values of phytoplankton specific absorption occurred at shallow optical depths for stations with deep nitraclines, whereas the lowest values always occurred close to or below the depth of the nitracline. Specific absorption generally increased with increasing temperature, but there were large differences in the relationships between cruises. In the context of previous laboratory observations, these results imply that nutrient availability plays a greater role than direct temperature effects in controlling natural variance in phytoplankton specific absorption. Specific absorption of photosynthetically active phytoplankton pigments was found to be less variable than that of total phytoplankton and showed no systematic trends with temperature, optical depth, or distance from the nitracline. This result leads to a new version of a bio-optical model for primary production which is based only on the photosynthetically active component rather than total phytoplankton absorption.

The United States' next generation of atmospheric composition and coastal ecosystem measurements : NASA's Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE) Mission

The Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE) mission was recommended by the National Research Councils (NRCs) Earth Science Decadal Survey to measure tropospheric trace gases and aerosols and coastal ocean phytoplankton, water quality, and biogeochemistry from geostationary orbit, providing continuous observations within the field of view. To fulfill the mandate and address the challenge put forth by the NRC, two GEO-CAPE Science Working Groups (SWGs), representing the atmospheric composition and ocean color disciplines, have developed realistic science objectives using input drawn from several community workshops. The GEO-CAPE mission will take advantage of this revolutionary advance in temporal frequency for both of these disciplines. Multiple observations per day are required to explore the physical, chemical, and dynamical processes that determine tropospheric composition and air quality over spatial scales ranging from urban to continental, and over temporal scales ranging from diu...

FIRST HARMFUL DINOPHYSIS (DINOPHYCEAE, DINOPHYSIALES) BLOOM IN THE U.S. IS REVEALED BY AUTOMATED IMAGING FLOW CYTOMETRY1

Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB) combines video and flow cytometric technology to capture images of nano‐ and microplankton (∼10 to >100 μm) and to measure the chlorophyll fluorescence associated with each image. The images are of sufficient resolution to identify many organisms to genus or even species level. IFCB has provided >200 million images since its installation at the entrance to the Mission‐Aransas estuary (Port Aransas, TX, USA) in September 2007. In early February 2008, Dinophysis cells (1–5 · mL−1) were detected by manual inspection of images; by late February, abundance estimates exceeded 200 cells · mL−1. Manual microscopy of water samples from the site confirmed that D. cf. ovum F. Schütt was the dominant species, with cell concentrations similar to those calculated from IFCB data, and toxin analyses showed that okadaic acid was present, which led to closing of shellfish harvesting. Analysis of the time series using automated image classification (extraction of image features and supervised machine learning algorithms) revealed a dynamic phytoplankton community composition. Before the Dinophysis bloom, Myrionecta rubra (a prey item of Dinophysis) was observed, and another potentially toxic dinoflagellate, Prorocentrum, was observed after the bloom. Dinophysis cell‐division rates, as estimated from the frequency of dividing cells, were the highest at the beginning of the bloom. Considered on a daily basis, cell concentration increased roughly exponentially up to the bloom peak, but closer inspection revealed that the increases generally occurred when the direction of water flow was into the estuary, suggesting the source of the bloom was offshore.

Effects of iron enrichment on phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean during late summer: active fluorescence and flow cytometric analyses

Abstract Eight shipboard iron-enrichment experiments were carried out during the late summers of 1997 and 1998 in the Ross Sea and the Polar Front, respectively, as part of the US JGOFS Southern Ocean program. Using active fluorescence techniques (pump-during-probe flow cytometry/microfluorometry and fast repetition rate fluorometry) and flow cytometry, we examined responses of phytoplankton to iron enrichment over time scales of days. Results of both individual cell and bulk water measurements suggest that physiological iron limitation was widespread in the Ross Sea gyre in the late summer, but that in the region just south of the Polar Front other factors were limiting phytoplankton growth. In the five experiments in which responses to enrichment occurred, all the phytoplankton groups we examined, with the exception of cryptophytes, responded to iron enrichment by increasing normalized variable fluorescence (Fv/Fm) over several days. Normalized variable fluorescence of cryptophyte cells was typically higher than that of other cells and often near the maximum observed. Significant correlations were observed between ambient iron concentrations and normalized variable fluorescence at the beginning of each experiment, and also between ambient iron and the response of normalized variable fluorescence to enrichment. These relationships, which have not been previously documented, support the use of ambient active fluorescence measurements to predict iron-limiting conditions without conducting incubations.

Primary productivity and its regulation in the Pacific Sector of the Southern Ocean

We measured primary productivity in the Pacific Sector of the Southern Ocean as part of the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study. We collected data along 170degrees W from 54 degreesS to 72 degreesS on four cruises during the austral growing season of 1997-1998. The cruises crossed the Subantarctic Front, the Antarctic Polar Front (APF), the Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) Front, and the Southern Boundary of the ACC. Primary productivity and chlorophyll a increased rapidly in spring, peaked in summer, and decreased rapidly in fall, following the seasonal pattern of irradiance. In early spring (October), primary productivity was 20 mmol C m(-2) d(-1) and increased to 54 mmol C m(-2) d(-1) within 3 weeks. During peak irradiance (December), productivity reached its maximum throughout the study area with values ranging from 33 to 93 mmol C m(-2) d(-1) depending on station location. By February, average productivity dropped to 20+/-1 mmol C m(-2) d(-1), and individual station values reached a minimum of 13 mmol C m(-2) d(-1). In early spring, chlorophyll was less than 0.5 mg Chl m(-3) throughout the study area. In late spring and early summer, chlorophyll values were between 0.15 and 1.5 mg Chl m(-3) depending on station location. By late summer, chlorophyll decreased to less than 0.3 mg Chl m(-3) across the study region. Highest absolute values of productivity and biomass occurred near the southward-propagating Si gradient (DeltaSi(max)). A spatial gradient in photosynthetic performance correlated with DeltaSi(max): photosynthetic performance was elevated in low silicic acid waters (less than 10 muM) to the north of DeltaSi(max) and was depressed in high silicic acid waters (greater than 30 muM) to the south of DeltaSi(max) Photosynthetic performance also was correlated with iron-enrichment response: when photosynthetic performance was low, iron-enrichment response was high, and when photosynthetic performance was high, iron-enrichment response was low. These results suggest that phytoplankton were iron sufficient north of DeltaSi(max) and iron limited south of DeltaSi(max). We argue that the southward-traveling DeltaSi(max), the APF, and the location of upwelling, iron-rich Upper Circumpolar Deep Water (UCDW) define three regions with differing iron sufficiency. Furthermore, we suggest that a winter recharge of upwelled, iron-rich UCDW within the Antarctic and Southern ACC Zones provides enough iron to support a diatom bloom that annually propagates poleward across the Antarctic and Southern ACC Zones to the Southern Boundary of the ACC, where the absence of UCDW prevents the blooms progression into the Subpolar Regime

Optics, particles, stratification, and storms on the New England continental shelf

In situ beam attenuation and chlorophyll fluorescence were correlated with concentration and bulk composition of particles in shelf waters during summer and spring under different physical forcing conditions to determine if optical parameters could be used as an additional tracer in examining the process of mixing in shelf waters. Time series measurements were made for two 18 day periods during high stratification (late summer 1996, Δσt = ∼3.0 kg m−3 surface to bottom) and low but rapidly developing stratification (spring 1997, Δσt = 0.05 to 0.5 kg m−3) in 70 m of water in a midshelf environment south of Marthas Vineyard, Massachusetts. When defined by hydrography and optical profiles, four layers were identified during the summer: the surface mixed layer, the particle/chlorophyll maximum, the midwater particle minimum, and the bottom nepheloid layer. Fast moving solitons perturbed the water column briefly, but no storms perturbed the system until large surface swells from Hurricane Edouard intensified and thickened the nepheloid layer. Bulk composition and optics of particles in and above the nepheloid layer were distinctly different after the passage of Hurricane Edouard. The hurricane passage demonstrated that intense atmospheric forcing greatly influences both hydrographic and optical properties in the entire water column, even when highly stratified (Δσt = ∼3.0 kg m−3, decreasing to 0.8 kg m−3 post hurricane), and causes massive resuspension, due initially to wave shear stress that was later dominated by current shear. Restratification progressed rapidly after the hurricane passed. During spring the water column started as a weakly stratified two-layer system hydrographically and optically but evolved into three layers as stratification developed. Strong spring storms affected both surface and bottom layers but with decreasing impact as the water column stratified.

DIEL VARIATIONS IN OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF MICROMONAS PUSILLA (PRASINOPHYCEAE) 1

Micromonas pusilla (Butcher) Manton et Parke, a marine prasinophyte, was used to investigate how cell growth and division affect optical properties of phytoplankton over the light:dark cycle. Measurements were made of cell size and concentration, attenuation and absorption coefficients, flow cytometric forward and side light scattering and chl fluorescence, and chl and carbon content. The refractive index was derived from observations and Mie scattering theory. Diel variations occurred, with cells increasing in size, light scattering, and carbon content during daytime photosynthesis and decreasing during nighttime division. Cells averaged 1.6 μm in diameter and exhibited phased division, with 1.3 divisions per day. Scattering changes resulted primarily from changes in cell size and not refractive index; absorption changes were consistent with a negligible package effect. Measurements over the diel cycle suggest that in M. pusilla carbon‐specific attenuation varies with cell size, and this relationship appears to extend to other phytoplankton species. Because M. pusilla is one of the smallest eukaryotic phytoplankton and belongs to a common marine genus, these results will be useful for interpreting in situ light scattering variation. The relationship between forward light scattering (FLS) and volume over the diel cycle for M. pusilla was similar to that determined for a variety of phytoplankton species over a large size range. We propose a method to estimate cellular carbon content directly from FLS, which will improve our estimates of the contribution of different phytoplankton groups to productivity and total carbon content in the oceans.

Temporal and vertical variability in optical properties of New England shelf waters during late summer and spring

Relationships between optical and physical properties were examined on the basis of intensive sampling at a site on the New England continental shelf during late summer 1996 and spring 1997. During both seasons, particles were found to be the primary source of temporal and vertical variability in optical properties since light absorption by dissolved material, though significant in magnitude, was relatively constant. Within the particle pool, changes in phytoplankton were responsible for much of the observed optical variability. Physical processes associated with characteristic seasonal patterns in stratification and mixing contributed to optical variability mostly through effects on phytoplankton. An exception to this generalization occurred during summer as the passage of a hurricane led to a breakdown in stratification and substantial resuspension of nonphytoplankton particulate material. Prior to the hurricane, conditions in summer were highly stratified with subsurface maxima in absorption and scattering coefficients. In spring, stratification was much weaker but increased over the sampling period, and a modest phytoplankton bloom caused surface layer maxima in absorption and scattering coefficients. These seasonal differences in the vertical distribution of inherent optical properties were evident in surface reflectance spectra, which were elevated and shifted toward blue wavelengths in the summer. Some seasonal differences in optical properties, including reflectance spectra, suggest that a significant shift toward a smaller particle size distribution occurred in summer. Shorter timescale optical variability was consistent with a variety of influences including episodic events such as the hurricane, physical processes associated with shelfbreak frontal dynamics, biological processes such as phytoplankton growth, and horizontal patchiness combined with water mass advection.