Table of Contents

• Coverage
• Dataset Description
  • Data Processing Description
  • BCO-DMO Processing Description
• Data Files
• Related Publications
• Related Datasets
• Parameters
• Instruments
• Deployments
• Project Information
• Funding

See the "Related Datasets" section on this page for the ELOG from cruise AE1913 and other closely related data.
* Also see all datasets related to the same cruise AE1913: https://www.bco-dmo.org/deployment/916412

Deployments and recoveries were recorded in the Rolling Deck to Repository Science Eventlogger (Elog, see Ritt (2024) and https://www.rvdata.us/about/event-log). Oceanographic samples were collected onboard the R/V Atlantic Explorer between June 16th - 28th 2019, along a transect beginning at the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) site and terminating in northeast US continental shelf waters (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution [WHOI]). Biomass was collected using the biogeochemical AUV Clio. To complement the vertical collection by Clio at Station 1, in situ battery-operated McLane pumps were used for surface biomass collection. The R/V Atlantic Explorer CTD provided physicochemical contextualization. After Clio was deployed, trace metal sampling was performed using a trace metal clean rosette equipped with 12 8L X-Niskin bottles on an Amsteel winch line. Subsamples for dissolved nutrients were collected from 0.2 µm-filtered seawater and stored at -20°C. 

Coordinated deployments during AE1913:  AUV Clio, McLane large volume pumps, CTD, Trace metal rosette, flow through sampling.

* Submitted file "AE1913_R2R_ELOG.csv" was imported into the BCO-DMO data system for this dataset. Values "NaN" imported as missing data values.
** Missing data values are displayed differently based on the file format you download from a BCO-DMO page. They are blank in csv files, "NaN" in MatLab files, etc.

* Column names adjusted to conform to BCO-DMO naming conventions designed to support broad re-use by a variety of research tools and scripting languages. [Only numbers, letters, and underscores. Can not start with a number]
* Column names and order also adjusted to match the elog columns in dataset from cruise AT50-10 https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/922260).
* No changes made to data values.

NSF Award Abstract:
Microscopic communities in the ocean can be surprisingly diverse. This diversity makes it difficult to study the individual organisms and reactions that control specific reactions controlling nutrient cycles. Past studies confirm that iron and nitrogen are vital elements for biological growth. There is increasing evidence, however, that other chemicals such as silica, zinc, cobalt, and vitamin B12 may be just as important. This project will provide an unprecedented view of community distributions using new molecular methods to isolate and link active proteins to specific chemical cycles during the very first research deployment of a brand-new autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The AUV will collect samples in programed patterns by pumping water directly into its filtering mechanism and then return the samples to the ship for analysis. The Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) station, which provides abundant supporting data, is the site for this innovative investigation into the microbial ecology and chemistry of the open oceans. Additionally, data will be widely distributed to other scientists through the Ocean Protein Portal website being developed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) and the Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office. Data will also contribute a new teaching module in the Marine Bioinorganic Chemistry course at WHOI.

This first scientific deployment of the newly engineered and constructed biogeochemical AUV, Clio, will generate a novel dataset to examine marine microbial biogeochemical cycles in the Northwestern Atlantic oligotrophic ocean in unprecedented detail and at high vertical resolution. First the project proposes to understand if the microbial community reflects the varying chemical composition and cyanobacterial species through nutrient response adaptations. Additionally, the research will determine if iron stress in the low light Prochlorococcus ecotyope found in the deep chlorophyll maximum is a persistent feature influenced by seasonal dust fluxes. The highly resolved vertical data from the in situ pumping capabilities of Clio are fundamental to a rigorous examination of these biogeochemical questions. This highly transformative dataset will greatly advance understanding of the nutrient and trace element cycling of this region and will be the first field validation of the potentially revolutionary capability these new approaches represent for the study of marine microbial biogeochemistry.