Abstract
To study the effect of hydrographic factors on the spatial distributions of chlorophyll a (Chl a), an investigation was carried out in the tropical eastern Indian Ocean (80°-100°E along 7°S, and 7°-18°S along 80°E) in December 2010. The fluorescent method was used to obtain total Chl a and size-fractioned Chl a at the 26 stations. The results show that surface Chl a concentration averaged at (0.168±0.095) mg/m3 s.d. (range: 0.034–0.475 mg/m3), concentrations appeared to be higher in the west for longitudinal variations, and higher in the north for latitudinal variations. Furthermore, the surface Chl a concentration was lower (0.034–0.066 mg/m3) in the region to the south of 16°S. There was a strong subsurface Chl a maximum layer at all stations and the depth of the Chl a maximum increased towards to the east and south along with the respective nitracline. The spatial variation of Chl a was significant: correlation and regression analysis suggests that it was primarily affected by PO 3−4 , N(NO3-N+NO2-N) and temperature. Size-fractionated Chl a concentration clearly showed that the study area was a typical oligotrophic open ocean, in which picophytoplankton dominated, accounting for approximately 67.8% of total Chl a, followed by nanophytoplankton (24.5%) and microphytoplankton (7.6%). The two larger fractions were sensitive to the limitation of P, while picophytoplankton was primarily affected by temperature.
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Foundation item: China Ocean Mineral Resources R & D Association under contract No. DY125-13-E-01; the Scientific Research Fund of the Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration under contract No. JG1024.
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Hong, L., Wang, C., Zhou, Y. et al. The distribution of chlorophyll a in the tropical eastern Indian Ocean in austral summer. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 31, 146–159 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-012-0244-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-012-0244-6