Bermuda Bio-Optics Project (BBOP) In-situ Bio-optical, Nutrient and Biogeochemical Data

The Bermuda Bio-Optics Project (BBOP) explores the relationship
between light and upper ocean biogeochemistry at an open ocean site
near the island of Bermuda. This site is occupied approximately 16
times a year as part of the Bermuda Atlantic Time Series, BATS, which
is part of the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study, JGOFS.

The goal is to evaluate the role of light in the cycling of carbon,
nitrogen, silica, phosphorous and sulfur in the upper ocean and to
study these processes using satellite ocean color sensors (i.e.,
SeaWiFS). To this end, BBOP is a contributor to the SeaWiFS
Bio-Optical Archive and Storage System (SeaBASS) data
base.

A profiling spectroradiometry system is deployed during each BATS
cruise. These data provide the "optical link" between the BATS
biogeochemistry measurements and the SeaWiFS ocean color imagery. A
full-time satellite acquisition and analysis project has been
established at the Bermuda Biological Station, in which ocean color
and other satellite imagery are used to extend the BBOP time-series
observations throughout the North Atlantic basin.

Data sets include photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), surface
irradiance, nutrients, chlorophyll and other pigments, primary
production, and sediment trap data.

BBOP is funded by NASA's Sensor Intercomparison and Merger for
Biological and Interdisciplinary Oceanic Studies (SIMBIOS) program.

[This information was obtained from the UCSB/ICESS BBOP website.]