Biomass and Abundance of Bacteria, Plankton and Meiofauna Measured during the JGOFS North Atlantic Bloom Experiment (NABE)

The Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) seeks to understand
the processes that control the transfer of carbon and other
biologically active elements in the ocean. In addition, JGOFS
hopes to improve global-scale predictions of the ocean's response to
human-induced climate change.

The North Atlantic Bloom Experiment (NABE) was a multidisciplinary,
multinational pilot study of JGOFS, studying the spring phytoplankton
bloom in the North Atlantic and its associated biogeochemical
processes. It took place from April until July, 1989, on two cruises
of the RV Atlantis II and one cruise of the RV Endeavor. The stations
in the North Atlantic were located from 18N to 72N and from 8W to 47W.

Abundance and biomass of the following groupings of organisms were
estimated: tintinnids, mesodinium, copepods, copepod nauplii,
foraminifers, stylonche, holotria, heterotrophic dinoflagellates,
plastidic oligotrich ciliates, non-plastidic oligotrich ciliates,
heterotrophic nanoplankton, phototrophic nanoplankton, cyanobacteria,
and bacteria. In addition, thymidine incorporation and leucine
incorporation were measured to estimate bacterial production.

The following principal investigators were responsible for individual
sections of this merged data set:

Hugh Ducklow Bacterial Production and Abundance
Michael Sieracki Cyanobacteric, Phototrophic, Heterotrophic
Nanoplankton
Diane Stoecker Ciliates, Tintinnids, Copepods
Peter Verity Heterotrophic Dinoflagellates

The data is public domain and can be retrieved on-line at
"http://usjgofs.whoi.edu/jg/dir/jgofs/"

[This summary was derived from Oceanus vol. 35 and from the JGOFS WWW
pages at WHOI.]