Microscale structures of phytoplankton and turbulence

湍流在浮游植物的小尺度分布中起着重要作用，但尚未建立量化。为了研究这个问题，我们开发了两种不同放大倍数的荧光探针。一种是基于LED技术，另一种是利用激光技术。提出了一种新的实验标定方法来估计每个探头的分辨率。该方法比较了快速温度探头（FP 07）的空间响应，并推导出合适的波数响应函数。因此，可以在波数空间中校正来自探头的信号。LED探头分辨率至少为2 cm，激光分辨率至少为2 mm。我们已经成功地证明了荧光数据显示出接近惯性子范围的斜率，-5/3，而速度谱在相同的波数范围内也显示出-5/3的斜率。我们还证明了当信号的平均值大于50 cm空间尺度时，两种探头是一致的。我们现在确信浮游植物改变了分布，小到几毫米。

Turbulence plays a major role in small scale distribution of phytoplankton, but no quantification has been established. In order to investigate this issue we have developed two different magnifications of fluorescent probes. One is based on LED technology and the other one makes use of laser technology. A new experimental calibration method is developed to estimate the resolution of each probe. This method compares the spatial response of fast temperature probe (FP07) and derives an appropriate wavenumber response function. So the signals from the probe can be corrected in wavenumber space. The LED probe resolves at least 2 cm, and the laser resolves at least 2 mm. We have successfully demonstrated fluorescence data exhibit near inertial subrange slope, -5/3, when velocity spectrum also show the -5/3 slope in the same wavenumber range. We have also demonstrated both probes are consistent when the signals are averaged larger than 50 cm spatial scale. We are now confident that phytoplankton changes the distribution as small as a few millimeters.