1,720,969 research outputs found
Unusual subpolar North Atlantic phytoplankton bloom in 2010: Volcanic fertilisation or North Atlantic Oscillation?
Full text linkIn summer and autumn 2010, a highly anomalous phytoplankton bloom, with chlorophyll concentration more than double that of previous years, was observed in the Irminger Basin, southwest of Iceland. Two unusual events occurred during 2010 which had the potential to promote the unusual bloom. First, in spring 2010, the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland erupted, depositing large quantities of tephra into the subpolar North Atlantic. Second, during the winter of 2009/2010 the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) became extremely negative, developing into the second strongest negative NAO on record. Hydrographic conditions were highly anomalous in the region, with an influx of freshwater spreading through the basin, and unusual nutrient and mixed layer depth conditions. Here we use a combination of satellite, modeled and in situ data to investigate whether the input of iron from the volcanic eruption or change in hydrographic conditions due to the extreme negative NAO were responsible for the anomalous phytoplankton bloom. We conclude that changes in physical forcing driven by the NAO, and not the volcanic eruption, stimulated the unusual bloom
Summertime trends in pelagic biogeochemistry at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain study site in the northeast Atlantic
No full textMeasurements of nitrate and carbon uptake made in July 2006 in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean are evaluated with reference to the photophysiology of the attendant phytoplankton population. Over the 11-day observation period integrated chlorophyll concentrations and carbon fixation rates decreased by 76% and 60%, respectively. Integrated nitrate uptake decreased by 50% from initial to final rates but was generally less variable than carbon fixation and chlorophyll in the intervening period. Satellite derived estimates of surface chlorophyll concentrations reveal the uptake observations to be coincident with, and subsequent to, a peak in summer time production. Large reductions in diatom and dinoflagellate abundance were also seen at this time, with indications that increased grazing, due to an increase in ciliate abundance, was an important mechanism terminating summertime production in the NE Atlantic. Meanwhile, the presence of consistently low values of Fv/Fm (<0.3), particularly in surface waters, suggests that production occurs, or is inhibited, with suboptimal photochemical efficiency widespread amongst the phytoplankton population. Furthermore, the low values of Fv/Fm were not alleviated by day-to-day variability in macronutrient concentration. The timing of our observations places them within the seasonal period recognised for the widespread phenomena of carbon overconsumption, and we estimate C:N uptake ratios at this time could be as high as 13:1
High numbers of Trichodesmium and diazotrophic diatoms in the southwest Indian Ocean
Full text linkWe observed high cell numbers of large (>50?m) nitrogen-fixing phytoplankton to the south and to the east of Madagascar in February 2005. The distribution of the diazotrophic taxa we found was markedly different: Trichodesmium was most abundant (500-1000 trichomes L-1) in the waters at the southern tip of Madagascar, while diazotrophic diatoms (125-500 cells L-1) were found to be abundant to the southeast of Madagascar. From these cell numbers, using literature values of nitrogen-fixation per cell, we estimate potential rates of nitrogen-fixation for Trichodesmium (south of Madagascar) of 1-5 mmol N m-2 d-1 and for diazotrophic diatoms (east of Madagascar) of 0.4-2.4 mmol N m-2 d-1. These cell-based estimates highlight the potential for significant nitrogen-fixation in the southwest Indian Ocean. High numbers of diazotrophic diatoms in subtropical waters to the east of Madagascar may have important implications for the biogeochemistry of the austral phytoplankton blooms that occur in this area
Does a ballast effect occur in the surface ocean?
Full text linkAuthor Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2010. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 37 (2010): L08602, doi:10.1029/2010GL042574.The oceanic biological carbon pump (BCP), a large (10 GT C yr−1) component of the global carbon cycle, is dominated by the sinking (export) of particulate organic carbon (POC) from surface waters. In the deep ocean, strong correlations between downward fluxes of biominerals and POC (the so-called ‘ballast effect’) suggest a potential causal relationship, the nature of which remains uncertain. We show that similar correlations occur in the upper ocean with high rates of export only occurring when biominerals are also exported. Exported particles are generally biomineral rich relative to the upper ocean standing stock, due either to: (1) exported material being formed from the aggregation of a biomineral rich subset of upper ocean particles; or (2) the unfractionated aggregation of the upper ocean particulate pool with respiration then selectively removing POC relative to biominerals until particles are dense enough to sink.This research was supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council
The supply of nutrients due to vertical turbulent mixing: A study at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain study site in the northeast Atlantic
Full text linkAs part of a multidisciplinary cruise to the Porcupine Abyssal Plain (PAP) study site (49°00?N 16°30?W), in June and July 2006, observations were made of the vertical nitrate flux due to turbulent mixing. Daily profiles of nitrate and turbulent mixing, at the central PAP site, give a mean nitrate flux into the euphotic zone of 0.09 (95% confidence intervals: 0.05–0.16) mmol N m?2 d?1. This is a factor of 50 lower than the mean observed rate of nitrate uptake within the euphotic zone (5.1±1.3 mmol N m?2 d?1). By using our direct observations to ‘validate’ a previously published parameterisation for turbulent mixing, we further quantify the variability in the vertical turbulent flux across a roughly 100×100 km region centred on the PAP site, using hydrographic data. The flux is uniformly low (0.08±0.26 mmol N m?2 d?1, the large standard deviation being due to a strongly non-Gaussian distribution) and is consistent with direct measurements at the central site. It is demonstrated that on an annual basis convective mixing supplies at least 40-fold more nitrate to the euphotic zone than turbulent mixing at this location. Other processes, such as those related with mesoscale phenomena, may also contribute significantly
Plankton patchiness investigated using simultaneous nitrate and chlorophyll observations
No full textThe complex patterns observed in marine phytoplankton distributions arise from the interplay of biological and physical processes, but the nature of the balance remains uncertain centuries after the first observations. Previous observations have shown a consistent trend of decreasing variability with decreasing length-scale. Influenced by similar scaling found for the properties of the water that the phytoplankton inhabit, ‘universal' theories have been proposed that simultaneously explain the variability seen from meters to hundreds of kilometers. However, data on the distribution of phytoplankton alone has proved insufficient to differentiate between the many causal mechanisms that have been suggested. Here we present novel observations from a cruise in the North Atlantic in which fluorescence (proxy for phytoplankton), nitrate and temperature were measured simultaneously at scales from 10 m to 100 km for the first time in the open ocean. These show a change in spectra between the small scale (10–100 m) and the mesoscale (10–100 km) which is different for the three tracers. We discuss these observations in relation to the current theories for phytoplankton patchiness
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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