Development of global plankton data base and model system for eco-climate early warning

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Ernest Martin
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1 Development of global plankton data base and model system for eco-climate early warning GreenSeas shall advance the quantitative knowledge of how planktonic marine ecosystems, including phytoplankton, bacterioplankton and zooplankton, will respond to environmental and climate changes. To achieve this GreenSeas will employ a combination of observation data, numerical simulations and a cross-disciplinary synthesis to develop a high quality, harmonized and standardized plankton and plankton ecology long time-series, data inventory and information service.

2 Project details Project Acronym: GREENSEAS Project Reference: Start Date: Duration: 36 months Project Cost: 4.48 million euro Contract Type: Small/medium-scale focused research project for specific cooperation actions dedicated to international cooperation partner countries (SICA) End Date: Project Status: Execution Project Funding: 3.48 million euro Participants MURMANSK MARINE BIOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF THE KOLA SCIENCE CENTRE OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE-FURG RUSSIAN FEDERATION BRAZIL UNI RESEARCH AS NORWAY CENTRO EURO-MEDITERRANEO PER I CAMBIAMENTI CLIMATICI SCARL ITALY UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN SOUTH AFRICA COUNCIL FOR SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH SOUTH AFRICA PLYMOUTH MARINE LABORATORY UNITED KINGDOM NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL UNITED KINGDOM

3 GreenSeas activities undertaken within the SOCCO community SOCCO partners are: University of Cape Town Stellenbosch University The Department of Environmental Affairs The South African Weather Service The South African National Antarctic Programme Key international partners: Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research at the University of Bergen in Norway Princeton University

4 SA Agulhas: Annual relief voyage to SANAE Marion Dufresne: BonusGoodHope transect

5 Nitrogen uptake by phytoplankton in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean during late austral summer W. R. Joubert, S. J. Thomalla, H. N. Waldron, M. I. Lucas, M. Boye, F. A. C. Le Moigne, F. Planchon, and S. Speich Biogeosciences, 8, , 2011

6 Data collected for Greenseas on SANAE Cruises Continuous Underway Measurements Satlantic FIRe (Fluorescence, Induction and Relaxation) System Continuous high frequency dissolved O2/Ar pco2 Temp and Salinity Discrete Underway Measurements Nutrients, Chlorophyll-a, HPLC, SEM, PIC, POC, flow cytometry, microscopy, TCO2, O2/Ar, Dissolved Oxygen, salinity. Dual labelled primary production, size-fractionated incubations, P vs E incubations

7 GreenSeas contribution by UCT: Honours, MSc and PhD students To conduct a field programme undertaking work similar to that undertaken as part of IPY on the RV Marion Dufresne along the Bonus Good Hope Line and the annual voyage on the SA Agulhas to the South African Antarctic base at SANAE. New and regenerated production observations using 15N and 13C uptake. Underway yo-yo CTD data, water column optics Discrete determinations of chlorophyll-a, nutrients, dissolved oxygen and POC. These data will provide information important to the growing biogeochemical datasets used to add knowledge to our understanding of the marine biological carbon pump. Greenseas Workshop, South Africa, December 2011 Greenseas Summer School, cape Town, February 2011

8 State of the art science contribution to Greenseas by UCT Nitrification processes in the euphotic zone (MSc/PhD: Mlle. Raissa Philibert) Aim: To provide improved estimates of the export and sequestration of carbon using new production (nitrate uptake) as a proxy for carbon export.

9 A Generalised Marine Food Web sunlight Sea Surface Surface Layer NH4 and Urea Zooplankton Growth Increase in Oxygen H 2 O + CO 2 >> CH 2 O + O 2 Phytoplankton Growth Bottom Layer Death and sinking Phytoplankton Nutrients (NO 3 ) CH 2 O + O 2 >> H 2 0 +CO 2 Bacterial Decay Decrease in Oxygen NH 4 NO 3 Mineralisation by nitrifying bacteria Sea Bed

Report EU BASIN Kickoff Meeting, Copenhagen, Denmark

Report EU BASIN Kickoff Meeting, Copenhagen, Denmark February 22 25, 2011, Meng Zhou Table of Contents Summary... 1 1. Highlights... 2 1) EU BASIN cruises... 2 2) Regional comparative studies and end to