1998 Ocean Sciences Meeting
February 9-13 1998, San Diego, California
AGU/ASLO
OS25 Thin Layers: A Critical Scale for Migrating Plankton?
Application of new sensors and deployment strategies has shown that phytoplankton and zooplankton can form intense patches that have vertical scales of tens of centimeters up to a few meters, yet horizontal scales of up to a few kilometers. Initial studies suggest these thin layers may represent an undersampled but critical scale for migrating plankton. This session will focus on interdisciplinary studies of (1) the mechanisms leading to the formation, maintenance and dissipation of patches on these scales, (2), their effects on vertical migration patterns of higher trophic levels, (3) the extent that higher trophic levels exploit them as concentrated food resources, and (4) the impacts of such structures on the optical and acoustic properties of coastal waters. Given the difficulty of detecting such structures using conventional techniques, we also seek papers that describe new techniques for quantifying them and the underlying structures and processes. We intend this to be a highly interdisciplinary session.
Convenors:
Percy L. Donaghay
University of Rhode Island, Graduate School of Oceanography
South Ferry Road
Narragansett, Rhode Island 02882-1197
Phone: (401) 874-6944
email: donaghay@gsosun1.gso.uri.eduD. Van Holliday
Tracor Applied Sciences
4669 Murphy Canyon Road, Suite 102
San Diego, California 92123-4333
Phone (619) 268-9777
email: holliday@galileo.tracor.com