New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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Distribution and biological properties of oceanic water masses around the South Island, New Zealand

W. F. VINCENT*
C. HOWARD-WILLIAMS

Taupo Research Laboratory
DSIR Marine and Freshwater
Department of Scientific and Industrial Research
P. O. Box 415, Taupo, New Zealand
*Present address: Departement de biologie, University Laval, Quebec G1K 7P4, Canada

P. TILDESLEY E. BUTLER

CSIRO Marine Laboratories
P. O. Box 1538, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Abstract The distribution of phytoplankton and the diversity of environmental conditions for their growth around the South Island, New Zealand, were examined in May 1989 by way of chlorophyll a fluorescence profiling in combination with discrete sample analysis of nutrients arid particulates, CTD-profiles, and concurrent satellite: images of sea surface temperature (SST). A composite of 7 overlaid SST images from the period of the cruise emphasised the strong north-south and east-west gradients in the oceanic environment. Water column sampling coupled with SST imagery was used to examine the frontal structure in Cook Strait, upwelling along the West Coast, gradients across the Solander Trough and through Foveaux Strait, and oceanographic features associated with the Subtropical Convergence off the East Coast and over Chatham Rise. A correlation analysis of the near-surface water properties showed the zonal relationships between nutrients, nutrient ratios, and temperature, but also underscored the strong local influence of freshwater inputs around the South Island coastline. An analysis of the in vivo fluorescence data revealed large site-to-site differences in the fluorescence yield per unit extracted chlorophyll a. The yield varied systematically with changes in the physical and biological environment across the Subtropical Convergence.

Keywords Chatham Rise; chlorophyll a; Cook Strait; fiords; Foveaux Strait; Mernoo Bank; New Zealand; nutrients; phytoplankton; salinity; South Island; Subtropical Convergence; temperature; upwelling

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1991, Vol. 25: 21 - 42 0028-8330/2501-0021 $2.50/0 © Crown copyright 1991
Received 10 December 1990; accepted 8 February 1991

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (3495K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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