There currently exists a critical knowledge gap in Irish/European marine science, in that there is almost no in situ data on primary productivity in Irish waters. While satellite data for net primary productivity has been available for over a decade now, there have been no systematic studies validating/ground truthing remote sensing estimates. This poster will introduce new work being conducted at the University of Galway that combines and compare different approaches to the measurement of primary productivity in surface seawaters around Ireland to provide improved regional estimates of phytoplankton production from within the Irish EEZ and the European coastal shelf. Through cooperation with the Marine Institute, we will utilize obtain new data on bio-optical, macronutrient, carbon system and O₂/Ar for gross primary productivity estimates across the Irish continental shelf. Shipboard incubations using H₂¹⁸O will be performed to obtain estimates of gross oxygen productivity (GOP) via measurement using a MIMS. In the Celtic Sea, gliders with oxygen sensors will be used to infer regional scale GOP.  The data gathered in this work will also help to inform baselines for carbon cycling budgets in Irish waters and help determine key parameters with regard to Ireland’s Blue carbon footprint and inform policy for the Irish government’s achieving it’s UN SDG targets.

Primary Presenter: Ankit Swaraj, University of Galway (a.swaraj1@nuigalway.ie)

Authors:

Peter Croot, University of Galway  (peter.croot@universityofgalway.ie)

Céline Burin, University of Galway  (c.burin2@nuigalway.ie)