Seeing the Invisible: Biogeochemistry and Ecology in Ocean Waters
Perhaps no avenue of research at MBARI better exemplifies continuous,
long-term research on broad questions than the studies on marine ecology
and biogeochemical cycles. Since 1989, every two to three weeks, on ship
cruises along defined coastal tracks, MBARI scientists
have measured temperature, currents, particulates, carbon-dioxide,
chlorophyll, nutrients, and more than a dozen other water properties.
Institute scientists made a technological advance toward automating
seawater chemistry measurements in real-time on ship cruises with the
development of a sampling system that allows for continuous monitoring of
nitrate.
To progress from periodic sampling of organisms and water properties to more continuous monitoring, the institute deployed a pair of offshore mooring systems. In 1994 the mooring program received a technological boost with the refinement of a chemical sensor that can be mounted on moorings and left unattended for several months. These in situ devices are but the first in MBARI’s long-range program to transfer many resource-intensive shipboard measurements to moorings and other autonomous platforms by developing new instruments and systems.
Through the efforts over the last decade, MBARI researchers have been able to describe the conditions and seasonal variability of Monterey Bay’s atmospheric, biological, physical, and chemical processes. A more in-depth understanding has emerged about seasonal patterns in the bay and the links between climate, ocean physics, and phytoplankton growth rates.
While no marine area can encompass all the variety of the world’s oceans, Monterey Bay and the adjacent waters, which span from areas of rich coastal upwelling to oligotrophic open ocean, provide a laboratory for studies broadly relevant to much of the planet’s water-covered realm. The improved methods and instruments developed for penetrating the complexities of Monterey Bay and the insights gained by long-term observations there, has given MBARI a good deal to share with the scientific community.
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