Dilution experiment data from R/V Melville, R/V Roger Revelle cruises MV1101, RR1202 in the Southern Ocean (30-60S); 2011-2012 (Great Calcite Belt project)

Website: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/561605
Version: 30 June 2015
Version Date: 2015-06-30

Project
» The Great Southern Coccolithophore Belt (Great Calcite Belt)
ContributorsAffiliationRole
Balch, William M.Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean SciencesPrincipal Investigator, Contact
Gegg, Stephen R.Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI BCO-DMO)BCO-DMO Data Manager


Dataset Description

Data from dilution experiments conducted aboard the vessels during the two Great Southern Coccolithophore Cruises - MV1101 and RR1202.

CarBoy and Dilutution Experiments Location Map


Methods & Sampling

Water collected from Carboy experiments (380 and 1200 ppm CO2) after equilibration at T24h.

Dilutions performed by mixing raw and filtered seawater to final concentrations of 100%, 75%, 50%, 25% and 0% in 2L bottles. One 100% bottle also supplemented with 10µmol NO3.

All bottles incubated for 24h at surface temperature and light and bubbled at 380 and 1200 ppm CO2.

Bottles sampled at T0 and T24h for Chl a, PIC, BSi, Birefringent Cell and Coccolith counts, and dissolved nutrients.


Data Processing Description

BCO-DMO Processing Notes
- Generated from original files "GB1 Dilution data.xlsx"  and "GB2 Dilution data.xlsx" contributed by Bruce Bowler
- Parameter names edited to conform to BCO-DMO naming convention found at Choosing Parameter Name
- CruiseId, CTD Station, Cast, Date, Lat and Lon inserted from CTD station data
- Experiment Id inserted into data (GB1_Diln1, GB2_Diln1, etc.)
- "nd" (no data) inserted into blank cells
- blank rows removed
- parameters: eb lith1:ml, eb lith2:ml, eb lith3:ml, eb tot lith:ml, eb lith area:ml, eb cell+agg area:ml removed per instruction from Bruce Bowler


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Data Files

File
Dilution_Experiments.csv
(Comma Separated Values (.csv), 29.44 KB)
MD5:40a9ed8a2fad57e270d9add0b6b5279a
Primary data file for dataset ID 561605

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Parameters

ParameterDescriptionUnits
CruiseId

Official UNOLS cruise id

text
Experiment

Car Boy Experiment Id

text
CTD_Station

Station number

dimensionless
CTD_Cast

Cast number

dimensionless
Date

Date (UTC)

YYYYMMDD
Latitude

Station latitude (South is negative)

decimal degrees
Longitude

Station longitude (West is negative)

decimal degrees
Sample_No

Sample number

dimensionless
Event_No

Event number

dimensionless
Bottle_No

Bottle number

dimensionless
Treatment

Treatment

text
Dilution

Dilution

text
Time

Sample time

hours
Corr_Chl_a

Corr Chl a

ug/l
Corr_Pheo

Corr Pheo

ug/l
Chl_a_plus_Pheo

Chl a + Pheo

ug/l
PIC

PIC

umol/l
Bsi

Bsi

umol/l
Nuts_No

Sample numbers submitted to the nutrient analyst onboard

dimensionless
NO3

NO3

umol/l
PO4

PO4

umol/l
SIL

SIL

umol/l
NO2

NO2

umol/l
NH4

NH4

umol/l
eb_lith4

birefringent counts of coccoliths

number/ml
eb_cell_plus_agg

birefringent counts of cells + aggregates

number/ml


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Instruments

Dataset-specific Instrument Name
Generic Instrument Name
CTD Sea-Bird SBE 911plus
Generic Instrument Description
The Sea-Bird SBE 911 plus is a type of CTD instrument package for continuous measurement of conductivity, temperature and pressure. The SBE 911 plus includes the SBE 9plus Underwater Unit and the SBE 11plus Deck Unit (for real-time readout using conductive wire) for deployment from a vessel. The combination of the SBE 9 plus and SBE 11 plus is called a SBE 911 plus. The SBE 9 plus uses Sea-Bird's standard modular temperature and conductivity sensors (SBE 3 plus and SBE 4). The SBE 9 plus CTD can be configured with up to eight auxiliary sensors to measure other parameters including dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, fluorescence, light (PAR), light transmission, etc.). more information from Sea-Bird Electronics

Dataset-specific Instrument Name
Generic Instrument Name
Niskin bottle
Generic Instrument Description
A Niskin bottle (a next generation water sampler based on the Nansen bottle) is a cylindrical, non-metallic water collection device with stoppers at both ends. The bottles can be attached individually on a hydrowire or deployed in 12, 24, or 36 bottle Rosette systems mounted on a frame and combined with a CTD. Niskin bottles are used to collect discrete water samples for a range of measurements including pigments, nutrients, plankton, etc.


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Deployments

MV1101

Website
Platform
R/V Melville
Start Date
2011-01-11
End Date
2011-02-16
Description
Original data are available from the NSF R2R data catalog

RR1202

Website
Platform
R/V Roger Revelle
Start Date
2012-02-18
End Date
2012-03-23
Description
Original data are available from the NSF R2R data catalog


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Project Information

The Great Southern Coccolithophore Belt (Great Calcite Belt)


Coverage: Southern Ocean. 60W to 120E; 30S to 60S;


Collaborative Research: The Great Southern Coccolithophore Belt

Intellectual merit: Recent advances in satellite remote sensing enable estimation of suspended calcium carbonate (particulate inorganic carbon or 'PIC') from space. This radiative approach is operationally specific to marine coccolithophores (Haptophyceae) and sensitive enough to quantify PIC concentrations in oligotrophic gyres. Global images of suspended PIC taken over the seven years of the MODIS Aqua mission show a 'Great Belt' of PIC near the sub-Antarctic front of the Southern Ocean that circles the globe. This feature occurs every year during austral summer and appears to be within the high-nutrient, low chlorophyll region of the Southern Ocean. The area of the Great Belt is ~88 million km2, 26% of the global ocean. Evidence from several cruises into the Great Belt region of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific sectors has verified elevated concentrations of coccolithophores; previous work in the Atlantic sector verified high optical scattering from PIC. The few ship observations we have are entirely consistent with the satellite views. In this project, the investigators will systematically study the coccolithophores of the Great Belt guided by the following science goals: (a) identify the coccolithophore species within this belt; (b) measure the abundance of coccolithophores and associated PIC; (c) measure coccolithopore calcification rates; (d) elucidate factors that may limit coccolithophore latitudinal range (e.g. stratification, temperature, macronutrients, trace metals, grazing); (e) demonstrate whether the variability in PIC relates to shallow export flux; (f) define how variability in PIC production relates to the pCO2, total alkalinity and dissolved inorganic carbon budgets; and (g) examine the impact of short-term ocean acidification on coccolithophore growth and calcite dissolution.

The research will involve cruises along the 50 S parallel to sample the Great Belt, during the austral summer. The investigators will use a combination of underway surface sampling (primarily optical and hydrographic) and vertical station profiles (using CTD/rosette and large volume submersible pumps) to address hypotheses related to the above goals. The cruise track will elucidate both zonal and meridional variability in the Great Belt. Controlled carboy incubation experiments will examine the impact of ocean acidification at various future scenarios on coccolithophore growth and dissolution. Dilution experiments will address grazing-related mortality and dissolution questions. Controlled metal-addition incubations will focus on potential iron, zinc and cobalt limitation of the coccolithophores or competition from diatoms related to silica availability. The proposed field observations and metal-addition experiments will provide important information on the current status of the Great Belt in the context of global biogeochemistry. The ocean acidification experiments to be undertaken are more forward-looking in terms of the fate of the Southern Ocean coccolithophores in a future acidified ocean.

Broader impacts: The globally significant size of the Great Belt indicates that it likely plays a major role in global biogeochemistry and climate change feedbacks. Thus, the investigators expect this work to have broad, transformative impacts in biological and chemical oceanography. Ocean acidification from the burning of fossil fuels is predicted to lower the pH of the surface ocean by 0.3 units in the next century and up to 0.7 units - a 5-fold increase in the proton concentration by the year 2300. A major goal of this study is to examine the effects of ocean acidification on coccolithophores in a region of low calcite saturation (i.e., one of the first regions expected to become sub-saturating for calcite). The results of these experiments will therefore be highly relevant to our basic understanding of the marine carbon cycle. Related to career development and Criterion II activities, the project includes field experience on two cruises for NSF REU undergraduates from Maine universities or colleges, providing funds for them to attend a scientific meeting. Participation of undergraduate students from Maine colleges builds capacity in our rural coastal state and helps thwart the serious issue of 'brain drain', in which the best students are leaving Maine to seek opportunity in wealthier, more populated states. A teacher will also participate on the cruises (via the NSF-sponsored ARMADA program). This teacher will develop learning modules for students about such topics as coccolithophores, calcification, export production, metal-plankton interactions, ocean acidification and climate change.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
Balch, WM; Drapeau, DT; Bowler, BC; Lyczskowski, E; Booth, ES; Alley, D. "The contribution of coccolithophores to the optical and inorganic carbon budgets during the Southern Ocean Gas Exchange Experiment: New evidence in support of the "Great Calcite Belt" hypothesis," JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-OCEANS, v.116, 2011. View record at Web of Science

Poulton, AJ; Young, JR; Bates, NR; Balch, WM. "Biometry of detached Emiliania huxleyi coccoliths along the Patagonian Shelf," MARINE ECOLOGY-PROGRESS SERIES, v.443, 2011, p. 1. View record at Web of Science
 

BOOKS/ONE TIME PROCEEDING
Brown, Michael S, W. Balch, S. Craig, B. Bowler, D. Drapeau, J. Grant. "Optical closure within a Patagonian Shelf coccolithhophore bloom", 06/01/2011-05/31/2012,  2012, "ACCESS'12. Atlantic Canada Coastal & Estuarine Science Society. Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. 10-13 May, 2012.".



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Funding

Funding SourceAward
NSF Division of Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE)

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