Nutritional factors
Nutritional factors role on growth and ecological habits of algae and plankton microorganisms
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Nutritional factors role on growth and ecological habits of algae and plankton microorganisms
Sampling, staining, and counting of plankton populations
Effect of nutrients on competition of plankton species trapped in sea water in large translucent plastic bags
Nutritional requirements and effects of other media factors in influencing metabolic activity of plankton cultures
Continuous culture laboratory apparatus for giving truer simulation of plankton activity in ocean
Marine invertebrate ecology - sampling techniques, food intake, quality of food, seasonal aspects of food and breeding, algal mutualism, plankton, vertical migration, and benthos
Carbonates and rare shales of the ca 700-800 Ma old Draken Conglomerate Formation, northeastern Spitsbergen, preserve a record of environmental variation within a Neoproterozoic tidal flat/lagoon complex. Forty-two microfossil taxa have been recognized in Draken rocks, and of these, 39 can be characterized in terms of their paleoenvironmental distributions along a gradient from the supratidal zone to permanently submerged lagoons. Supratidal to subtidal trends include: increasing microbenthic diversity, increasing abundance and diversity of included allochthonous (presumably planktonic) elements, decreasing sheath thickness of mat-building organisms (with significant taphonomic consequences), and an increasing sediment/fossil ratio in fossiliferous rocks. Five principal and several minor biofacies can be distinguished. The paleoecological resolution obtainable in the Draken Conglomerate Formation rivals that achieved for most Phanerozoic fossil deposits. It documents the complexity and diversity of Proterozoic coastal ecosystems and indicates that both environment and taphonomy need to be taken into explicit consideration in attempts to understand evolutionary trends in early fossil record. Three species, Coniunctiophycus majorinum, Myxococcoides distola, and M. chlorelloidea, are described as new; Siphonophycus robustum, Siphonophycus septatum, and Gorgonisphaeridium maximum are proposed as new combinations.
The North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES) is a five-year Earth-Venture Suborbital-2 Mission to characterize the plankton ecosystems and their influences on remote marine aerosols, boundary layer clouds, and their implications for climate in the North Atlantic. While marine-sourced aerosols have been shown to make important contributions to surface aerosol loading, cloud condensation nuclei and ice nuclei concentrations over remote marine and coastal regions, it is still a challenge to differentiate the marine biogenic aerosol signal from the strong influence of continental pollution outflow. We examine here the spatiotemporal variability and quantify the sources of tropospheric aerosols over the North Atlantic during the first two phases (November 2015 and May-June 2016) of NAAMES using a state-of-the-art chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem). The model is driven by the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) from the NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO). It includes sulfate-nitrate-ammonium aerosol thermodynamics coupled to ozone-NOx-hydrocarbon-aerosol chemistry, mineral dust, sea salt, elemental and organic carbon aerosols, and especially a recently implemented parameterization for the marine primary organic aerosol emission. The simulated aerosols over the North Atlantic are evaluated with available satellite (e.g., MODIS) observations of aerosol optical depths (AOD), and aircraft and ship aerosol measurements. We diagnose transport pathways for continental pollution outflow over the North Atlantic using carbon monoxide, an excellent tracer for anthropogenic pollution transport. We also conduct model perturbation experiments to quantify the relative contributions of terrestrial and oceanic sources to the aerosol loading, AOD, and their variability over the North Atlantic.
The NASA Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission, scheduled for launch in 2024, will carry two instruments that measure ultraviolet (UV) radiance emerging from the top of the atmosphere: the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) and the Spectro-Polarimeter for Planetary Exploration (SPEXone) instrument. OCI will provide single-view, hyperspectral radiometric data, whereas SPEXone will provide multi-angle, multispectral polarimetric data. Together, these instruments will be the most advanced in NASA’s history for the combined observation of ocean color and atmospheric aerosols in the UV, and they will therefore provide unprecedented research opportunities for the ocean color and atmospheric aerosol communities. In particular, UV observations are best suited to retrieve properties of Colored Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM) in the ocean, and of Brown Carbon (BrC) aerosols in the atmosphere. However, both CDOM and BrC exhibit very similar absorption spectra in the UV and the visible (VIS) spectrum; hence, care must be taken in accurately modeling these spectra for analyses of OCI and SPEXone measurements. In this presentation, we summarize a simple but highly accurate three-parameter model for complex refractive index spectra of BrC in the UV and VIS. We apply this model to simulations of PACE-like total and polarized multiangle radiance in the UV, and demonstrate that the impact of BrC and CDOM variations can be similar in total radiance, but is easy to distinguish in polarized radiance.
The Airborne Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter (AirHARP) is a new imaging polarimeter instrument capable of sampling a single Earth target from up to 120 viewing angles, in four spectral channels, and in three linear polarization states across a 114° field of view (FOV). AirHARP is telecentric in the image space and simultaneously images three linear polarization states with no moving parts. These two aspects of the design allow for a simple and efficient quantitative calibration. Using coefficients derived at the center of the lens and the detector flatfields, we can calibrate the entire AirHARP sensor in a variety of laboratory, field, and space environments. We show that this telecentric calibration technique yields a 1σ absolute uncertainty of 0.25 % in degree of linear polarization (DOLP) in the laboratory for all channels and for pixels around the optical axis. To validate across the FOV, we compare our multi-angle reflectance and polarization data with the Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) over targets sampled during the NASA Aerosol Characterization from Polarimeter and Lidar (ACEPOL) campaign. We use the error-normalized difference technique to estimate how well the instruments compare relative to their error models. We find that AirHARP and the RSP reasonably agree for reflectance and DOLP within 2 standard deviations of their mutual uncertainty at 550, 670, and 870 nm and over a limited set of ocean and desert scenes. This calibration technique makes the Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter (HARP) design attractive for new spaceborne climate missions: HARP CubeSat (2020–2022), HARP2 (2024–) on the NASA Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE), and beyond.
Effect of cyclonic and anticyclonic water movements on organic matter distribution near Somali Coast, based on plankton analysis
The concept of monitoring the plankton-producing areas of the world is discussed in relation to assessing the exchange of CO2/O2 on a world-wide basis as a part of a life-support system.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report. The general suitability of ERTS imagery in detecting ground originated air pollution has proved to be excellent. The quality and resolution exceeded expectations and has permitted in some instances location of point sources to within a thousand feet. Suitable techniques have not yet been developed for determining or measuring area and line sources of air pollution. A major problem has been cloud cover that has persisted over the area of primary interest, the Chesapeake Bay. Work has been completed on mounting the shipboard transmissometer which will be used for investigations to relate the chlorophyll and suspended sediment content in the waters of the Lower Chesapeake Bay to ERTS-1 imagery. Water sampling, plankton analysis, and preparations for sea collection of water truth along the eastern continental shelf of the U.S. have been completed for use in comparisons with ERTS-1 data.
The author has identified the following significant results. ERTS-1 multispectral scanner imagery of the nearshore surface waters of the Northeast Pacific Ocean is proving to be a useful tool for determining source and dispersal of suspended particulate matter. The principal sources of the turbid water, seen best on the green and red bands, are river and stream effluents and actively eroding coastlines; secondary sources are waste effluents and production of planktonic organisms, but these may sometimes be masked by the very turbid plumes of suspended sediment being discharged into the nearshore zone during times of high river discharge. The configuration and distribution of the plumes of turbid water also can be used to infer near-surface current directions. Comparison of imagery of the nearshore water off the northern California coast from October 1972 and January 1973 shows a reversal of the near-surface currents, from predominantly south-setting in the fall (California Current) to north-setting in the winter (Davidson Current).
The author has identified the following significant results. While occupying standard oceanographic stations in the delta region of the Colorado River, two species of insects were collected which were of special interest. One of these is a single specimen of corixid bug, hitherto familiar to the investigators only as a freshwater insect, but taken swimming actively in high salinity water along with characteristic marine plankton. Further investigation showed that the species taken is well known from saline ponds but this is apparently the first record of its occurrence in a complete marine community. A small note on this collection record was prepared for publication and sent in manuscript form to NASA. The other record is of three specimens of a cicindelid beetle (normally a beach inhabitant) found at a night light for larval fish collection on station in the Colorado delta. The beetles were observed to light on and take off from water surface while actively moving around the night light. There is an interesting question of whether this species (Cicindela sinaloae schrammeli Cazier) may be especially adapted for a predatory life on the surface film, while the other two (larger) species sympatric with it are restricted to hunting on land.
There are two chromophylls which, if sensed remotely from high altitude, would revolutionize the ability to survey large areas of the world's oceans. The chromophylls of importance are: the photosynthetic pigments of plankton algae and a group of organic materials frequently termed dissolved yellow substances. These are derived from plants and carried into the ocean by fresh water inflow. The attenuation of light by phytoplankton is characterized by two distinctive bands (450, 675 nm) which represent absorption by chloroplastic pigments. Yellow substances are characterized by a strong ultraviolet absorption which tails over into the visible region. It is emphasized that chlorophyll determination could be a unique technique for estimating the extent of eutrophication in coastal waters, and that a high altitude observer equipped with temperature, chlorophyll and yellow substance sensors has the possibility of detecting the magnitude of eutrophication and its sources by using laser induced fluorescent devices.
An application of rapid generation of classed digital images from LANDSAT-1 was demonstrated and its feasibility evaluated by NASA in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Texas A and M University (TAMU), and the Cousteau Society. The primary purpose was to show that satellite data could be processed and transmitted to the Calypso, which was used as a research vessel, in time for use in directing it to specific locations of possible plankton upwellings, sediment, or other anomalies in the coastal water areas along the Gulf of Mexico.
The author has identified the following significant results. MSS data provided extensive and simultaneous information about marine environmental conditions, such as the shift of the Kuroshio, fall and rise of coastal water mass, distribution of water masses, locations of vortex and current rips, exchanges of water between embayment and open ocean effluent rivers, fertility of plankton, red tide, pollution, etc.