 |
| Nine mesocosms frames on the dock about to b e deployed off Gran Canaria in the Atlantic Ocean. Credit: Kerstin Suffrian, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. |
Investigating how plankton responds to changing ocean conditions
East Boothbay, Maine – Three scientists from Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences are in Gran Canaria, the second most populated island of the Canary Islands, for a re-run of an experiment that was thwarted by a severe storm there earlier this year. Senior Research Scientist Steve Archer, post doc Kerstin Suffrian and research techician Kevin Posman, will spend the next ten weeks working with a large German-led team from GEOMAR, Kiel, to test how marine plankton respond to changes in acidity and carbon dioxide concentrations in the Atlantic Ocean.
The experiment, KOSMOS GC, involves deploying nine large floating mesocosms, experimental water enclosures, in the ocean. The mesocosms, which hold the equivalent of 45 cubic meters or 45 tons each, will be adjusted to varying levels of acidity in an attempt to simulate ocean acidification over the next 100 years. The team will monitor how planktonic microbial communities in the mesocosms respond to the changing conditions. At one point they will also add nutrient-rich water from deep in the ocean to the mesocosms, to simulate the upwelling events common around the Canary Islands. Bigelow Laboratory’s team will focus on how the microbial plankton response influences trace gases emissions in the ocean that play a role in atmospheric chemistry and climate.
“We’ve carried out similar experiments in the Arctic and North Sea and have observed significant
