Monsoonal Forcing of Zooplankton Variability in the Arabian Sea: Acoustic Measurements
1998
Smith, Sharon L.
Basic questions concerning how populations of zooplankton perceive and respond to their habitats can be studied using the contrasting monsoonal regimes of the Arabian Sea. The biological transition in the upwelling area within 600 kilometers of the Oman coast from low productivity in April/May to high productivity in July-September is rapid, owing largely to the preadapted condition of the dominant zooplankton which persist throughout the non-upwelling seasons as late stage subadults in diapause. The rapid and widespread (Somalia to Oman) response of the zooplankton make it imperative that we maximize the use of high-frequency acoustic methods for estimating pelagic biomass. Our research objectives are: 1) to quantify seasonal and spatial variability in the biomass and community structure of mesozooplankton in the coastal upwelling regions of the Arabian Sea (Oman and Somalia), 2) to describe how the physical forcing creates the observed distributions, and 3) to quantify the effect of the oxygen minimum zone of the Arabian Sea on vertical distribution and vertical migration.
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