EP34C:
Patchiness in the Ocean: Exploring Environmental and Ecosystem Variability and Its Consequences, from Mesoscale to Fine Scale I Posters


Session ID#: 23031

Session Description:
We are increasingly recognising the spatially patchy nature of the marine environment, with the oceans exhibiting high spatial variability in physical, chemical and biological parameters and animal behaviours at a variety of scales. This variability has significant implications for our understanding of ocean mixing, biogeochemistry, and ecology. Due to advances in technology, such as greater resolution in remote and acoustical sensing, the proliferation of underwater vehicles, and the ability to produce accurate 3-D hydrographic simulation models with high resolution, we are now capable of looking at smaller scale patterns and processes than ever before, and at linkages between physical, chemical, biological and ecological processes driving spatial variability. In this session we will explore mesoscale (around 100 km), sub-mesoscale (around few km) and smaller patterns (around 100 m) and processes driving patchiness, whether physical, chemical, biological, ecological, or, especially, interdisciplinary. We will look at how this patchiness can be sampled, described, and explained, and go beyond this to implications and consequences for biogeochemical processes, biological diversity and ecosystem dynamics, including implications for humans.
Primary Chair:  Jacqueline F Tweddle, University of Aberdeen, Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Aberdeen, United Kingdom
Co-chairs:  Kelly J Benoit-Bird, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA, United States and Fanny Chenillat, Universite de Bretagne Occidentale, LEMAR, Brest, France
Moderators:  Jacqueline F Tweddle, University of Aberdeen, Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Aberdeen, United Kingdom, Kelly J Benoit-Bird, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA, United States and Fanny Chenillat, Universite de Bretagne Occidentale, LEMAR, Brest, France
Student Paper Review Liaisons:  Kelly J Benoit-Bird, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA, United States and Jacqueline F Tweddle, University of Aberdeen, Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Aberdeen, United Kingdom
Index Terms:

4299 General or miscellaneous [OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL]
4599 General or miscellaneous [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
4899 General or miscellaneous [OCEANOGRAPHY: BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL]
Cross-Topics:
  • B - Biodiversity
  • BN - Biogeochemistry and Nutrients
  • ES - Ecology and Social Interactions
  • PS - Physical Oceanography: Mesoscale and Smaller

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

Geostatistical Analysis to Quantify Mesoscale (and Sub-mesoscale) Spatial Variability, Patchiness, and Error in SeaWiFS and MODIS/Aqua Global Ocean Color Data (303356)
David M Glover, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole, MA, United States, Scott C Doney, University of Virginia, Department of Environmental Sciences, Charlottesville, VA, United States, William Oestreich, Stanford University, Department of Biology, Stanford, CA, United States and Alisdair W. Tullo, University of Edinburgh, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Thin layers of phytoplankton in the upwelling region off NW Iberia: occurrence, mechanisms of formation, and relationship with harmful phytoplankton (310215)
Beatriz Mouriño1, Esperanza Broullón1, Paloma Chouciño1, Bieito Fernández-Castro2, Miguel Gil Coto2, Marina Villamaña1, Enrique Nogueira3, Rosa Reboreda1, Beatriz Reguera3 and Carlos Souto1, (1)University of Vigo, Spain, (2)IIM-CSIC, Spain, (3)IEO-Vigo, Spain

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