Tropical Atlantic Ocean in two main sites: M (18° 29'N, 21° W) and O (21° N, 31° W) and surface monitoring between the Canary Islands and station M

Variable fluorescence parameters; Phytoplankton taxonomic abundance in water bodies

Active fluorometers

The general aim of the EUMELI program was to study the flux of material in the tropical oceanic water column. Two different trophic situations in the tropical Atlantic Ocean have been studied during the EUMELI 3 cruise (R/V 'Atlante'): oligotrophic (Station O2, 21° N, 31° W) and mesotrophic (Station M2, 18° N, 21° W). All standard oceanographic measurements have been carried out following JGOFS protocol for 'core parameters' (contact LPCM - Villefranche sur Mer). Moreover, in vivo fluorescence of photosynthetic pigments has been measured at the two sites for the water column over several days. In addition, at station O, pigments were measured at one hour intervals for a period of 34 hours to acquire information about the spectral variability of phytoplankton fluorescence and physiological response of natural populations. The following measurements are available: - time-integrated in vivo fluorescence, before and after DCMU; - quantum corrected excitation spectra of chlorophyll-a and phycoerythrin fluorescence; - emission spectra of chlorophyll-a and phycoerythrin fluorescence; - vertical profiles of downwelling, upwelling and scalar underwater irradiance (up to 120m or 1/1000 of the surface PAR); - Utermohl phytoplankton density and species composition.

Universita' di Firenze, Laboratorio di Ecologia, Dipartimento di Biologia Vegetale
Via P.A. Michelini 1
Firenze

50121
Italy