Primary Production in the Arabian Sea

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9312355 Barber This project will investigate primary production and photosynthetic parameters during the course of a year in the monsoon dominated Arabian Sea. The project is a component of the U. S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JFOGS) effort called the Arabian Sea Process Study. The Arabian Sea is a low latitude oceanic region with strong and reversing monsoon winds together with relatively modest seasonal variability in solar radiation and sea surface temperature. The strong episodic wind forcing is accompanied by large changes in nutrients and massive phytoplankton blooms with high primary productivity. The objectives of the project are to 1) determine the seasonal and spatial pattern of variability of primary production using in situ and deck incubations in order to understand the processes that control both total production and export production; 2) determine the seasonal and spatial pattern of the photosynthetic parameters incubations to understand the effect of environmental covariables such as nutrients on these parameters; and 3) use the newly determined photosynthetic parameters in bio-optical models to improve estimates of primary production and compare these model estimates with our direct observations of primary production. ***