Effective ocean management requires integrated and sustainable ocean observing systems enabling us to map and understand ecosystem properties and the effects of human activities. Autonomous subsurface and surface vehicles, here collectively referred to as “gliders”, are part of such ocean observing systems providing high spatiotemporal resolution. In this paper, we present some of the results achieved ...

Three-dimensional data on the mesoscale distribution of hydrography and mesozooplankton were collected at the Polar Front, northwestern Barents Sea, in spring 2008 (29 April 15 May) using a combination of multinet and towed instrument platform equipped with Laser Optical Plankton Counter, fluorometer and CTD. Trophic levels (TLS) within the zooplankton community (whole community and size-separated) ...

Pigmentation is often overlooked in zooplankton, since these organisms are mostly colorless to fit the translucid water medium. However, one of the dominant zooplankton taxa in aquatic ecosystems—copepods—often show a bright red-orange or blue coloration owing to the accumulation of carotenoid pigments in some parts of their bodies. Even though there are many functional traits describing copepod’s ...

Calanus finmarchicus is a keystone zooplankton species that is commercially harvested and is critical in sustaining many important fisheries in the North Atlantic. However, due to their patchy population distributions, they are notoriously difficult to map using traditional ship-based techniques. This study involves the use of a combined approach of standardized ocean colour imagery and radiative ...

Optical constituents in the ocean are often categorized as water, phytoplankton, sediments and dissolved matter. However, the optical properties of seawater are influenced, to some degree, by scattering and absorption by all particles in the water column. Here we assess the relevant size ranges for determining the optical properties of the ocean. We present a theoretical basis supporting the hypothesis ...

Large swarms of individuals at different spatiotemporal scales characterise the distributions of many animal species. In the ocean several mesozooplankton taxa aggregate in large patches or swarms driven by active behavioural responses to hydrographic structures, although intrinsic biotic characteristics of species´life cycles not related with the environment can also affect spatial distributions. ...

Vertical behavior, such as diel vertical migration (DVM) and swarming are widespread among zooplankton. At higher latitudes, synchronized DVM is mostly absent during summer and predominantly herbivorous copepods tend to form large near-surface swarms. This behavior is risky because it can make them vulnerable to visual predators. Here, we used ca. 12 days of mid-summer (28 June to 10 July 2018) ...

Zooplankton provide the key link between primary production and higher levels of the marine food web and they play an important role in mediating carbon sequestration in the ocean. All commercially harvested fish species depend on zooplankton populations. However, spatio-temporal distributions of zooplankton are notoriously difficult to quantify from ships. We know that zooplankton can form large ...

Optical particle measurements are emerging as an important technique for understanding the ocean carbon cycle, including contributions to estimates of their downward flux, which sequesters carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the deep sea. Optical instruments can be used from ships or installed on autonomous platforms, delivering much greater spatial and temporal coverage of particles in the mesopelagic ...

While marine ecosystems in polar areas were thought to be mostly inactive during the polar night, recent observations in the Arctic highlight that dynamic biological interactions occur across all trophic levels. One particularly interesting observation made repeatedly is the occurrence of Calanus finmarchicus, a key species at the base of the food web, in the upper part of the water column in early ...