Aegean Sea, Straits of the Cretan Arc

Ammonium and ammonia concentration parameters in water bodies; Particulate total and organic carbon concentrations in the water column; Dissolved organic carbon concentration in the water column; Dissolved oxygen parameters in the water column; Nitrate concentration parameters in the water column; Phosphate concentration parameters in the water column; Silicate concentration parameters in the water column; Nitrite concentration parameters in the water column

Discrete water samplers

The objective of the MTP II-MATER is to study and to quantify the triggering and controlling mechanisms of mass and energy transfer between the different compartments (land - sea, sea - atmosphere, water - sediment, living - non living, pelagos - benthos), in contrasting trophic environments (from eutrophic to oligotrophic) of the Mediterranean Sea and to investigate the ecosystem response to such transfer. This programme is designed to assess the physical, biological and geochemical processes at various time and space scales, from the entire basin down to the local scale and from interannual variations to daily processes with the aim to forecast the global evolution. MTP II - MATER couples both experimental work and modelling. The project gathers 55 research groups from 13 EU Member States and 3 non-EU States. Data have been collected using Nansen water sampling bottles and the data set comprises measurements made in a dense grid of stations at standard depths. Methods used - Oxygen: Winkler method on board; Phosphate: Murphy and Riley method on board; Nitrate: Strickland and Parsons method; Nitrite: Strickland and Parsons method; Silicate: Mullin and Riley method; Ammonia: Koroleff method on board. Materials and Methods for Total Organic Carbon - Field sampling: Discrete seawater samples were collected by using a rosette sampler equipped with Niskin bottles from the RV Aegaeo at a series of stations. At the beginning of the cruise, Niskin bottles were cleaned with HCl 0.2% and distilled water. Samples were not filtered and were drawn as soon as possible after the rosette sampler was on the deck of the ship (after gas sampling)). The 10 ml samples were collected (without filtration) in duplicate in precombusted (450 C degrees, at least 6 hours) glass vials. All vials were poisoned by addition of HgCl2 (final concentration ca. 10 mg l-1), closed with Teflon lined screw caps and stored in the dark for later analyses at the shore laboratory within 5 months. HTCO analysis: the Shimadzu instrument used in this study was the commercially available Model TOC-5000 Total Carbon Analyzer with quartz combustion column filled with 1.2% Pt on silica pillows with approximate diameter of 2 mm (Cauwet, 1994). Several aspects of our modified unit have been already described (Yoro et al., 1997; 1999; Dafner et al., 1999; 2000). Calibration of the instrument: standardisation was carried out every day using potassium hydrogen phthalate (Kanto Chemical Company, Inc.) dissolved in Milli-Q prepared just before sample analyses.

Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Hellenic National Oceanographic Data Centre
46.7 km Athinon-Souniou Av. P.O.Box 712
Anavissos

19013
Greece