Abundance of bacteria and virus during the METEOR cruise M87/1

In temperate, subpolar and polar marine systems, the classical perception that bacteria are carbon limited by end of winter and respond in activity and abundance to the production of new carbon during the diatom spring bloom and post bloom. Contrary to this view, we here document an strong increase in bacterial abundance and activity (latter measured by increasing high nuclei acid (HNA) to low nuclei acid (LNA) bacteria ratio) during the winter-spring transition, where phytoplankton smaller than 10 µm dominate. Further DNA-virus were enumerated and revealed the virus to bacteria ratio (VBR) to be decreasing during winter-spring transition, indicating that the virus did not increase in number accordingly to bacteria. During repeated visits to stations in the deep Icelandic and the Norwegian Basins and the shallow Shetland Shelf (26 March to 29 April 2012), we investigated the abundance of bacteria and the succession of HNA:LNA bacteria and VBR. Water samples were collected from CTD rosette .10 L Niskin bottles and fixed in glutaraldehyde (final conc. 5%), flash frozen in liquid Nitrogen and stored at -80°C until analysis.

Abundance of pico- and nanophytoplankton during the Meteor cruise M87/1

In temperate, subpolar and polar marine systems, the classical perception is that diatoms initiate the spring bloom and thereby mark the beginning of the productive season. Contrary to this view, here we document an pre-bloom of pico- and nanophytoplankton prior to the diatom bloom; a period with excess nutrients and deep convection of the water column. During repeated visits to stations in the deep Icelandic and the Norwegian Basins and the shallow Shetland Shelf (26 March to 29 April 2012), we investigated the succession and dynamics of <10 µm phytoplankton. Water samples were collected from CTD rosette 10 L Niskin bottles and fixed in glutaraldehyde (final conc. 5%), flash frozen in liquid Nitrogen and stored at -80°C until analysis.

Sedimentology on two core from the Bransfield Strait area

The raw material for these investigations are samples from marine (sub)surface sediments around the northern part of the Antarctic Peninsula. They had been sampled in the years 1981 to 1986 during several expeditions of the research vessels Meteor, Polarstern and Walther Herwig. 83 box core, gravity core and dredge samples from the area of the Bransfield Strait, the Powell Basin and the northern Weddell Sea have been examined for their grain-size distribution, their mineralogical and petrographical composition. Silt prevails and its clay proportions exceed 25% wt. in water depths greater than 2000 m. The granulometrical results reveal some typical sedimentation processes within the area of investigation. While turbiditic processes together with sediment input from melting icebergs control the sedimentation in the Weddell Sea, the South Orkney Island Plateau and the Powell Basin, the fine grained material from Bransfield Strait mainly relies on marine currents in the shelf area. In addition, the direct sediment input of coarse shelf sediments from the Bransfield Strait into the Powell Basin through submarine canyons could be proven. Variations in the grain-size composition with sediment depth are smalI. The mineral composition of the clay and fine silt fractions is quite uniform in all samples. There are (in decreasing order): illite, montmorillonite, chlorite, smectite, mixed-Iayers, as well as detrital quartz and feldspars. A petrographically based sediment stratigraphy can be established in using the considerable changes in the chlorite- and Ca-plagioclase portions in samples from Core 224. For this sedimentation area a mean sedimentation rate of 7 cm/1000 a is assumed. Remarkable changes in the portions of amorphous silica components - diatom skeletons and volcanic glass shards - appear all over the area of investigation. They contribute between 4-83 % to the clay and fine silt fraction. Several provinces according to the heavy mineral assemblages in the fine sand fraction can be distinguished: (i) a province remarkably influenced by minerals of volcanic origin south and north of the South Shetland Islands; (ii) a small strip with sediment dominated by plutonic material along the western coast of the Antarctic Peninsula and (iii) a sediment controlled by metamorphic minerals and rock fragments in the area of the Weddell Sea and Elephant Island. While taking the whole grain-size spectrum into account a more comprehensive interpretation can be given: the accessoric but distinct appearance of tourmaline, rutile and zircon in the heavy mineral assembly along the northwestern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula is in agreement with the occurrence of acid volcanic rock pieces in the coarse fraction of the ice load detritus in this region. In the vicinity of the South Shetland Islands chlorite appears in remarkable portions in the clay fraction in combination with leucoxene, sphene and olivine, and pumice as well as pyroclastic rocks in the medium and coarse grain fractions, respectively. Amphiboles and amphibole-schists are dominant on the South Orkney Island Plateau. In the sediments of the northwestern Weddell Sea the heavy mineral phases of red spinel, garnet, kyanite and sillimanite in connection with medium to highgrade metamorphic rocks especially granulitic gneisses, are more abundant. A good conformity between the ice rafted rock sampIes and the rocks in the island outcrops could be proven, especially in the vicinity of offshore islands nearby. On the continent enrichments of rock societies and groups appear in spacious outlines: acid effusive rocks in the west of the ice divide on the Antarctic Peninsula, clastic sedimentites at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and granoblastic gneisses in central and eastern Antarctica. Coarse grain detritus with more than 1 cm of diameter must have been rafted by icebergs. These rock fragments are classified as rock types, groups and societies. The spacial distribution of their statistically determined weight relations evidently shows the paths of the iceberg drift and in nexus with already known iceberg routes also point to the possible areas of provenance, provided that the density of sample locations and the number of rock pieces are sufficient.