High Frequency Migrations of the Deep Scattering Layer

Noah Walcutt, University of Rhode Island, Graduate School of Oceanography, Narragansett, RI, United States, Melissa Omand, University of Rhode Island, Graduate School of Oceanography, Narragansett, United States and Daniele Bianchi, University of California Los Angeles, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Los Angeles, CA, United States
Abstract:
Here we describe rapid (minutes) fluctuations in the depth of the deep scattering layer in response to rapid changes in solar irradiance. We compile data from ship-based underway acoustic backscatter from 38 - 153 kHz ADCP from the U.S. Joint Archive for Shipboard ADCP and from the British Oceanographic Data Center transects, along with surface PAR from the Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies, throughout the global oceans, quantifying this phenomena, we term High Frequency Vertical Migration (HFVM). Here we will discuss approaches to modeling HFVM and consider some of the metabolic implications for mesopelagic communities and biogeochemical cycling in the ocean twilight zone.
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