The Red Sea is warming at a faster rate than the global ocean (average), its oligotrophic surface coastal waters are characterized by high salinities (up to 40) and high temperatures (up to 33°C). These conditions result in low phytoplankton biomass and a community dominated by small cells, however bigger cells can be important specially in the winter. As the Red Sea environment warms, the impacts of the increasing temperatures in this high saline high temperature and low nutrient environment on the phytoplankton community remains an important unanswered question. Long term studies are limited and represent a key to understand how the ecosystem will cope with these changes. We present a first observational high resolution monitoring program that started in 2018, on environmental parameters and a remotely controlled automated flow cytometer (CytoSub) fitted in a buoy at a mooring coastal station in the Red Sea. Plankton automated sampling is performed every hour for the small classes and every 6 h for the bigger cells. Focusing on the analyses of the sum of particles, the obtained high frequency data will enable us to understand the contribution of the various size classes to the total concentration of particles and the influence of temperature in the phytoplankton community and the ecosystem capacity responses.

Primary Presenter: Eva Alou Font, KAUST (eva.aloufont@kaust.edu.sa)

Authors:

Eva Alou Font, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)  (eva.aloufont@kaust.edu.sa)

Luthfiyyah Azizah, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)  (luthfiyyah.azizah@kaust.edu.sa)

Susana Agusti, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)  (susana.agusti@kaust.edu.sa)