Project: Primary Production in the Arabian Sea

Barber 9312355: This project will investigate primary production and photosynthetic parameters during the course of a year in the monsoon dominated Arabian Sea. The project is a component of the U. S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) effort called the Arabian Sea Process Study. The Arabian Sea is a low latitude oceanic region with strong and reversing monsoon winds together with relatively modest seasonal variability in solar radiation and sea surface temperature. The strong episodic wind forcing is accompanied by large changes in nutrients and massive phytoplankton blooms with high primary productivity. The objectives of the project are to 1) determine the seasonal and spatial pattern of variability of primary production using in situ and deck incubations in order to understand the processes that control both total production and export production; 2) determine the seasonal and spatial pattern of the photosynthetic parameters incubations to understand the effect of environmental covariables such as nutrients on these parameters; and 3) use the newly determined photosynthetic parameters in bio-optical models to improve estimates of primary production and compare these model estimates with our direct observations of primary production.

MARRA 9311255 This proposal is a continuing effort of to collect and process data on optics and pigment distribution by combining the efforts of JGOFS and the Word Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) Hydrographic Program (WHP). The program will operate a bio-optical profiler to collect data on the biological and optical properties of the upper water column. Data to collected include spectral irradiance (7 channels each of upwelling and downwelling ), broad-band visible irradiance (PAR), fluorescence, and beam transmission. This is perhaps the first undertaking of a systematic and consistent data collection on the oceans pigment and optical properties, and would be invaluable in improving algorithms for satellite imaging of ocean pigments and in estimating primary production.