Fast Repetition Rate (FRR) Fluorometer For Making In Situ Measurements Of Primary Productivity

Abstract

Understanding the ocean carbon cycle and predicting how climate-induced changes in ocean circulation will affect ocean productivity requires that (a) primary productivity be measured with high spatial and temporal resolution, and (b) natural variability in primary productivity be parameterized with regardto environmental factors such as nutrient availabuity, irradiance, and temperature. Instrumentation to measure primary productivity from the stimulated in vivo fluoresence of phytoplankton chlorophyll is currendy being developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The instrumentation is based on fast repetition rate (FRR) fluorometry, and provides a robust technique for deriving the photosynthetic rates in situ. Moreover, the FRR methodology directly measures several photosynthetic parameters such as effective absorption cross- section, photo-conversion efficiency, and turnover time of photosynthesis, and relate them to primary productivity. Since photosynthetic parameters are affected by environmental factors such as fight and nutrient availability, the relationship between these parameters and primary productivity can be established. By understanding such relationships, prognostic models of primary productivity can be developed and parameterized.