Hydrochemistry measured on water bottle samples during METEOR cruise M10/1

The relationship between the vertical flux of microplankton and its standing stock in the upper ocean was determined in the subtropical (33°N, 21°W) and tropical (18°N, 30°W) northeast Atlantic in spring 1989 as part of the North Atlantic Bloom Experiment. In the subtropical area specific sedimentation rates at all depths were low (0.1% of standing stock) and 10-20% of settled particulate organic carbon (POC) was viable diatoms. The high contribution of viable diatoms, their empty frustules and tintinnid loricae to settled material characterized a system in transition between a diatom bloom sedimentation event and an oligotrophic summer situation. In the tropical area specific sedimentation rates were similar, but absolute rates (3 mg C m?2 day?1) were only about a third of those in the subtropical area. Microplankton carbon contributed only 2-6% to POC. Hard parts of heterotrophs found embedded in amorphous detrital matter suggest that particles had passed through a complex food web prior to sedimentation. Coccolithophorids, not diatoms dominated the autotrophic fraction in traps, and a shift in the composition of autotrophs may indicate a perturbation of the oligotrophic system.

(Table 2) Concentration of suspended matter and dissolved Mn in water samples above the Mid-Atlantic Ridge rift zone near 29°N

Data on nephelometry, CTD probing, and dissolved manganese obtained during Cruise 34 of R/V Akademik Mstislav Keldysh showed that a multiplume was found over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge rift zone near 29°N. This multiplume comprises plumes of several hydrothermal vents and is separate from the plume of the Broken Spur hydrothermal field. Approximate coordinates were estimated for three vents.