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MBARI ocean observing systems (MOOS) |
Equatorial Pacific moorings
Lead Scientist/Project Manager: Francisco Chavez
The ocean boundaries are sites of increased
biological productivity relative to the gyres. Recent calculations suggest
that the equatorial regions may be important contributors to the global
carbon and nitrogen cycles as a result of increased supply of inorganic
carbon and nitrogen to the surface. Considering that these boundary
regions are important to global carbon and nitrogen cycles, it is clear
that global budgets need improved estimates of the nutrient supply,
exchange of carbon dioxide between ocean and atmosphere, and primary
productivity in these areas. Equally important, the regulation of
variability needs to be understood to provide a mechanistic explanation of
the climate/marine chemistry/productivity feedback loop. Time series
measurements of physical and meteorological properties, which resolve the
important scales of variability, are currently being taken in the
equatorial Pacific, but until recently there were no parallel time series
of biological and chemical parameters. This proposal describes a program
for studying the spectrum of biological and chemical variability in the
equatorial Pacific. The study is designed to obtain continuous time series
of biological and chemical properties on a time scale that is equivalent
to measurements of currents, local winds and temperature structure. The
program is linked to an existing physical oceanographic study headed by
Dr. Michael McPhaden of the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL)
of NOAA.
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