@misc{10508/2471,
year = {2009},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10508/2471},
abstract = {The Spring Phytoplankton Bloom takes place in the Central Cantabrian Sea (Southern Bay of
Biscay) from late-winter to spring as a series of blooms with variable biomass accumulation. In
late-winter of 2004 and 2005, phytoplankton blooms occurred in this area following a change in
the weather. In order to describe the dynamics of these late-winter blooms, two oceanographic
cruises which involved high-frequency sampling (every 2–3 days) were carried out. Meteorological
conditions during the cruises showed similar changes in variables relevant to phytoplankton physiology
and population dynamics. Before the bloom, phytoplankton started to grow actively when
underwater photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) increased. However, biomass accumulation did
not occur until wind, and hence turbulence levels in the water column, decreased. The observations
presented here suggest that before the onset of a late-winter bloom a preliminary physiological activation
phase is necessary driven by increased availability of underwater PAR. Afterwards, biomass
accumulation can take place provided wind-derived water column turbulence decays. The development
of the bloom is reinforced by the shoaling of the surface mixing layer depth. The timing of
this sequence of events can be altered by meteorological disturbances, such as an increase of wind
speed. The composition of the bloom differed across-shelf: phytoplankton larger than 5 mm in
equivalent spherical diameter (ESD) dominated on the coast and inner shelf, whereas smaller
phytoplankton (,5 mm ESD) were more important in the oceanic area, markedly when a frontal
structure separating both domains developed at the mid-shelf.},
keywords = {phytoplankton bloom},
keywords = {hydrography},
keywords = {nutrients},
keywords = {PAR},
keywords = {southern Bay of Biscay},
title = {Short-term dynamics of late winter phytoplankton blooms in a temperate ecpsystem (Central Cantabrian Sea, Southern Bay of Biscay)},
doi = {10.1093/plankt/fbp012},
journal = {Marine Biology Research},
volume = {31(6)},
author = {Álvarez, E. (Eva) and Nogueira, E. (Enrique) and Acuña, J.L. (José Luis) and López-Álvarez, Marcos and Sostres, J.A. (Jorge A.)},
}