Posters

Poster Session 1, Monday,  October  3, 15:40–18:00

Poster 13

Chasing open-ocean eddies and fronts using in-line optical measurements

In-line optical measurements continue to expand in their use on oceanographic research vessels, providing vast amounts of information at high spatial and temporal resolution. Research expeditions conducted around the world over the past decade provide extensive optical data – namely spectral particulate absorption and attenuation, as well as particulate backscattering – that has been leveraged for algorithm development and ocean color satellite match-up analyses, among other research topics. In March – April 2022, the sailing R/V Tara completed a transatlantic crossing in the Southern and South Atlantic Oceans and targeted eddies and frontal features to explore phytoplankton and microbial communities and their diversity at the sites of these physical features. The use of in-line optical data as well as imaging-in-flow cytometry allowed near-real-time tracking of dynamic optical and biological properties around mesoscale eddies and associated submesoscale filaments and fronts. Here we present the approach used to analyze in-line optical data while at sea, and the patterns of optically-derived estimates of phytoplankton pigments, community size structure, and particulate organic carbon spanning the transoceanic ship track. We demonstrate the utility of information from in-line optical and imaging data analyzed while at sea to target ephemeral and complex features that are highly variable and dynamic at frontal regions. Notably, we encourage collaboration among other users of in-line optical systems for further software development to maximize the benefit of these data, both for near-real-time information at sea, and for the organization and use of in-line optical data in subsequent analyses.

Alison Chase, University of Washington, [email protected], 0000-0002-1862-9822 

Rémi Laxenaire, Université de La Réunion, [email protected] 

Daniele Iudicone, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, [email protected] 

Guillaume Bourdin, University of Maine, [email protected]

Nils Haëntjens, University of Maine, [email protected] 

Emmanuel Boss, University of Maine, [email protected] 

Lee Karp-Boss, University of Maine, [email protected]