Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 2518 See the link below for public details on this project. Global climate change will lead to a reduction in the duration and thickness of sea ice in coastal areas. We will determine whether this will lead to a decrease in primary production and food value to higher predators. Project objectives: Our primary objective is to determine what effect will declining sea ice cover have on Antarctic coastal primary production? Hypotheses to be tested - A decrease in sea ice algal production will lead to a net reduction in total primary production. - A decrease in sea ice will result in less water column stratification which will reduce the significance of phytoplankton blooms. - Less sea ice will lead to a change in phytoplankton bloom composition away from diatoms towards un-nutritious nuisance blooms such as Phaeocystis - Benthic microalgal production will increase - Seaweed production will increase slightly - A decrease in sea ice thickness will increase ice algal production (as they are generally light limited) - Ice algae, benthic microalgae, and phytoplankton will acclimate to an elevated light climates by changing their photosynthetic efficiency and capacity - Ice algae, benthic microalgae, and phytoplankton will acclimate to an altered light quality. To answer these questions we will also need to determine: - What is the total annual primary production at coastal Antarctic sites; this consists of the contributions from the sea ice algal mats, benthic microalgal, seaweed and phytoplankton? - What is the effect of major environmental variables, such as UV, salinity, currents oxygen toxicity, cloud cover, nutrient availability and temperature on production. - What is the inter-annual variability in primary production? A broader scale issue that our data will contribute to providing answers to is the question - What effect will changing primary production have on higher trophic levels? Taken from the 2009-2010 Progress Report: Progress against objectives: The 2009/10 field and laboratory season focused on the second of our primary questions, i.e. 'What is the effect of major environmental variables, such as UV, salinity, currents oxygen toxicity, cloud cover, nutrient availability and temperature on production'. In particular we focused on light and light transmission though the sea ice. The science program AAS2518 was executed at Casey station from 11 Nov to 5 Dec 2009. The project was split into a field and a lab-based component. In situ spectral light transmission data were collected on first year sea ice within the vicinity of Jack's Hut. Ice cores were collected and transported to the laboratory at Casey station for spectral attenuation profiles within sea ice, and for measurements of spectral absorption by particulate and dissolved organic matter. Overall, the program was successful: in situ sea-ice spectral transmission data was collected in combination with vertical profiles of absorption coefficients of particulate (algae and detritus) and dissolved organic matter. Samples for analysis of photosynthetic pigments were collected and shipped to Sydney. Their analysis is underway. Due to logistical issues associated with the collection and transport of sea ice cores, the protocol for vertical profiling of spectral attenuation was modified (see below) and analysis of the data is currently underway. The field component of the program was successful as spectral transmission data was collected for first year sea-ice, and the chosen site contained a thriving sea ice algal community for bio-optical measurements. It was initially planned to sample multiple sites offering a range of varying sea-ice thickness, but this was not possible during this campaign. Many sites in the vicinity of Casey station had already started to melt and break up, so that for logistical and safety reasons the area around Jack's hut was the only workable option. The field period instead spanned ~ 20 days during the melt period at Jack's, during which the porosity of sea ice increased but thickness remained constant. Ice cores destined for spectral transmission profiles were to be collected whole and intact, but due to the presence of fractures in the sea ice, drilling (manual as well as motor powered) resulted in fractured core samples. The protocol was therefore modified: cores were sectioned in 20 cm sections and spectral transmission measured for each section. Spectral transmission profiles across the entire thickness of sea ice are to be re-constructed from the discrete data points. The accuracy of the approach will be assessed against the in situ spectral transmission data. The download file contains three spreadsheets (two of them are csv files), and a readme document which provides detailed information about the three spreadsheets.

Profiles of visible light absorption and attenuation coefficients were measured in the upper 100m of the water column. Data Acquisition: The Wetlabs ACS spectral absorption and attenuation meter was mounted on a deployment frame together with a Seabird pump, a Wetlabs DH-4 data logger and two battery packs. This set-up was as recommended in the Wetlabs manual. The logger was set to control the ACS once the on/off magnet had been inserted. The data acquisition program comprised 2 minutes delay time to allow the instrument to be deployed over the stern; 30 seconds warm-up time; 30 seconds flush time during which the pump was activated, and finally 12 minutes of data acquisition. Physically, the instrument was attached to the winch, the magnet was inserted as soon as permission to deploy had been obtained from the bridge, the instrument was lowered directly to 20m, until 1.5 minutes since insertion of the magnet. The instrument was then brought to just below the surface and lowered at 0.5m per second to a depth of 100m, then retrieved at the same speed. Once the instrument was back on deck the magnet was removed to prevent dry operation of the pump. The data logger received an instrument-specific binary format data file for each deployment, with automatic sequential file numbering. These files were uploaded after each deployment. Data Processing: The Wetlabs software program WAP was used to extract ascii data from the binary files. This procedure included corrections for internal instrument temperature and the latest manufacturer's calibration for wavelength. Note that although daily calibrations were performed during the cruise, the manufacturer advised against using these calibrations as conditions were suboptimal (milli-Q water not fresh, environment not totally dry or well temperature-controlled). A matlab script, acs.m, written by the principal investigator, continues the data processing. Data recorded in air are discarded, remaining data are binned to 2m depth intervals, occasional spurious data with a discontinuity in absorption or attenuation spectra are removed, and a correction is applied to account for differences in ocean water temperature and salinity compared to the calibration conditions. This final step uses first-cut CTD data courtesy of the oceanography team (Bindoff et al). Not yet complete (as of 2006-03-10): Remaining spurious data need to be weeded out by hand. These include non-systematic quirks such as occurrence of bubbles or larger particles in the optical path. The depth needs to be corrected for an offset of some 4m plus the difference between the pressure sensor location and the ACS-inlet location. Dataset Format: For each 100m profile, a single ascii file is available, comprising instrument calibration data and a time sequence of attenuation and absorption spectra. By placing each of the profile files from one cruise transect in a single directory, the acs.m routine can be applied to one leg at a time, yielding matlab fields of [station, depth (0:2m:100m), wavelength (87 wavelengths)]. The acs.m script includes details of which CTD station number refers to which ACS file number. This information is also supplied in the station log file jill_brokew_stations.xls. Acronyms Used: ACS - Absorption (a) Attenuation (c) Spectral meter, produced by Wetlabs CTD - Conductivity, Temperature, Pressure. This work was completed as part of ASAC projects 2655 and 2679 (ASAC_2655, ASAC_2679).