Joint SOLAS Bergen Mesocosm Experiment

该项目将统一目前NERC SOLAS指导方案内的若干单独项目，这些项目正在调查控制海表面微层(SML)大气微量气体生产和消费的微生物过程。CH4、N2O、CO、DMS、甲基卤化物和VICS等具有气候重要性的痕量气体必须通过这个界面才能释放到大气中和/或被海洋吸收。因此，在SML中消耗和产生这些气体的微生物对它们的生物地球化学循环起着重要的控制作用。调控这些微生物活动的过程知之甚少，但可以通过在精心定义的实验条件下生成包括化学和生物参数在内的强大数据集，在UKSOLAS中直接解决。尽管通过参与研究小组的工作，生物和化学成分的SML采样和SML气体交换的测量现在通常都是可能的，但现在需要的是一种连贯的统一方法，以增强这些正在进行的UKSOLAS项目的科学成果。卑尔根中附体设施为此提供了独特的机会；它们将使UKSOLAS的科学家能够为实验分析和建模生成一个强大的数据集，因为它将有可能在整个浮游植物繁衍过程中，在仔细定义的条件下跟踪SML微生物学、化学和痕量气体转移，届时将产生和/或消费几种重要的微量气体。在远洋航行中很难做到这一点，因为天气和抽样制度的不可预测性往往妨碍了我们提议的统一计量和抽样办法(见工作计划)。这项工作的结果将为一些UKSOLAS项目提供有价值的统计有效数据集，这些项目是在定义的实验条件下大规模生成的(而不仅仅是在基于实验室的实验中)。这将使我们能够确定微生物在将具有气候重要性的气体从海洋转移到大气中的重要性，这是UKSOLAS的核心目标。

This project will unify a number of individual projects within the current NERC SOLAS directed programme that are investigating the microbial processes controlling the production and consumption of atmospheric trace gases in the sea surface microlayer (SML). This is the interface through which climatically important trace gases such as CH4, N2O, CO, DMS, methyl halides and VICs must pass in order to be released to the atmosphere and/or taken up by the oceans. Microbes that both consume and produce these gases in the SML thus exert major controls on their biogeochemical cycles. The processes which regulate the activities of these microbes are poorly understood but can be directly addressed within UKSOLAS through generating a robust dataset including chemical and biological parameters under carefully defined experimental conditions. Although both SML sampling for biological and chemical components and measurements of SML gas exchange are now routinely possible through the work of the participating research groups, what is now needed is a coherent unifying approach that enhances the scientific deliverables of these ongoing UKSOLAS projects. The Bergen mesocosm facilities afford a unique opportunity for this; they will enable UKSOLAS scientists to generate a robust dataset for experimental analysis and modelling since it will be possible to follow SML microbiology, chemistry and trace gas transfer under carefully defined conditions throughout the course of a phytoplankton bloom, when several important trace gases will be produced and/or consumed microbially. This cannot easily be achieved on ocean-going cruises since the unpredictability of weather and sampling regimes often precludes the unified approach to measuring and sampling that we propose (see work plan). The outcomes of this work will provide valuable statistically-valid datasets for a number of UKSOLAS projects which are generated on large scale (rather than just in laboratory-based experiments) under defined experimental conditions. This will allow us to define the importance of microbes in the transfer of climatically important gases from the oceans to the atmosphere, a central aim of UKSOLAS.