Development And Distribution Of Plankton Observed With A Ferrybox System For Monitoring Coastal Waters

No abstracts are to be cited without prior reference to the author.

Ships-of-opportunity like ferries offer cheap and reliable measuring platforms to make automatic observations of coastal waters. Results of observations made on a route between Cuxhaven (Germany) and Harwich (UK) which is covered every night are presented. The FerryBox system has sensors and analysers for the parameters salinity, pH, oxygen, turbidity, fluorescence, ammonium, nitrate/nitrite, o-phosphate and silicate. Strong gradients in both nutrients, and turbidity can be easily observed in the coastal vicinity on both sides of the transect. This study will focus on the distribution and development of phytoplankton which is strongly influenced by the physical environment. The observations in the North Sea clearly show low winter values in chlorophyll a over most part of the transect, nearby coastal effects of riverine loadings, and patchy distribution of algal blooms along the transect in spring and summer. Data for different algae groups measured by excitation with different wavelengths are analysed and compared with pigment analysis and cell countings.