Grace Su ( license@seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov) (301) 286-9494
Applicant's Name: Maria Vernet Institution: SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY Address: 9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla, CA. 92093-0218 Telephone: 858-534-5322 Fax Number: 858-534-2997 E-mail Address: mvernet@ucsd.edu Type of Temporary Agreement requested: An agreement that temporarily enables a non-real time SeaWiFS HRPT station to decrypt real-time data and release it to the Authorized Users list. Time period of temporary agreement: Dates (month/day/year): 12/08/2004 - 02/15/2005 SeaWiFS HRPT Station to provide data: HPAL List of Authorized Users to access real-time data. 1. Andrew Archer Project Title: Palmer Long-Term Ecological Reserach Program Principal Investigator(s): Maria Vernet Funding Agency(s): NSF - Polar Programs Description of the Research Project and Justification for Real-time SeaWiFS Data: The phytoplankton component of the Palmer LTER project(Maria Vernet, PI) and bio- optics component participate every January and February on a cruise to the continental shelf of the Western Antarctic Peninsula. This project is looking at the relationship between spatial and temporal variability in phytoplankton distribution and primary production and the physical properties on the shelf, related to ice cover and water column properties. We are pursuing 5 lines of research: (1) A study of the contribution of different taxonomic groups to primary production and biomass. (2) An investigation of phytoplankton dynamics during periods of ice formation and ablation. (3) A study of carbon cycling through the coastal Antarctic food chain. (4) A study of the major drivers to inter-annual variability in primary production and its relationship to climate variability. (5) A study of krill-phytoplankton interactions. The phytoplankton group samples core variables (daily primary production, particulate carbon and nitrogen, nutrients, and phytosynthetic pigments), profiles of the upper 100-m water column with a Fast Track Rate Repetition Fluorometer for phytoplankton physiological studies of environmental forcing (i.e. photo-inhibition, nutrient limitation) and experiments on the effect of ultraviole radiation on daily primary production and phytoplankton composition. Nutrient determinations are done on board (5 analyses). As originally hypothesized, interannual variability in primary production correlates with ice extent during summer and, to a lesser extent, with the ice during the previous winter. The annual cruise includes 5 cardinal lines revisited every year. Unfortunately, the biology is not always well sampled and we request the use of real time SeaWiFS images to refine the sampling. For example, the January 2002 composite image is an exquisite example of why such information would be valuable at sea. In Jan 2002 there were three areas of enhanced pigment biomass: Palmer Deep & surrounds, which we sample; between the 400 and 500 lines, which we completely missed with our standard grid sampling; between the 200 and 300 lines, which we partially caught with our transect into Marguerite Bay. Interestingly, there were very low values of pigment biomass between the 300 adn 400 lines and the 500 and 600 lines. In Jan2002, it was as if the patchiness was designed to foil our standard sampling pattern.