Primary production, water column changes, and the demise of a Phaeocystis bloom at the Marine Light-Mixed Layers site (59°N, 21°W) in the northeast Atlantic Ocean

Primary production in incubations is compared with daily changes in water column oxygen inventories and particulate organic carbon (POC) at a station in the NE Atlantic (the Marine Light-Mixed Layers site) in the spring of 1991. Drifters were followed over three periods. The first is characterized by a bloom of Phaeocystis pouchetii. Prior to the second and third deployments, storms mixed the water column and the bloom dissipated. After deployment of the third drifter, the water column restratified, followed by high rates of primary production. All incubation experiments for carbon assimilation were greater than that calculated from changes in oxygen or POC. The ¹⁴C estimates agreed with the prediction of a bio-optical model for primary production. -from Authors