Scottish Association for Marine Science

About: Scottish Association for Marine Science is a facility organization based out in Oban, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Sea ice & Benthic zone. The organization has 524 authors who have published 1765 publications receiving 70783 citations. The organization is also known as: SAMS & Scottish Marine Station for Scientific Research.

An adaptive approach to detect high-biomass algal blooms from EO chlorophyll-a data in support of harmful algal bloom monitoring

Abstract: High-biomass harmful algal blooms can kill farmed fish through toxicity, physical effects or de-oxygenation of the water column. These blooms often form over spatially large areas meaning that Earth observation is well placed to monitor and study them. In this letter, we present a statistical-based background subtraction technique that has been modified to detect high-biomass algal blooms. The method builds upon previous work and uses a statistical framework to combine spatial and temporal information to produce maps of bloom extent. Its statistical nature allows the approach to characterize the region of interest meaning that region-specific tuning is not needed. The accuracy of the approach has been evaluated using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data and an in situ cell concentration dataset, resulting in a correct classification rate of 68.0% with a false alarm rate of 0.24 (n = 25). The method is then used to study the surface coverage of a large high-biomass harmful algal bloom...

Validation of age readings from otoliths of juvenile roundnose grenadier, Coryphaenoides rupestris, a deep‐water macrourid fish

Abstract: Validation of the ageing of deep-water fish is difficult and there are only a few instances where the rings on the otoliths have been shown to be laid down annually. Roundnose grenadier have been fished commercially in the North Atlantic since the 1960s and the adult fish have frequently been aged by counting the rings in otoliths or scales. All the ageing was done on the assumption that the rings in the otoliths or scales were annual. Between 1975 and 1992, the Scottish Association for Marine Science carried out seasonal trawling surveys in the Rockall Trough using a fine-meshed trawl, and collected otoliths from a wide size range of roundnose grenadier. An examination of the growing edge of otoliths from juvenile fish from these collections suggests that the rings in the otoliths are laid down annually. The broader, opaque zones which represent the growth phase were dominant between September and March. The thinner, hyaline zones were dominant between April and July. The apparent delay in the growth phase compared with most shallow-water species is discussed in relation to the availability of mesopelagic prey.

Benthic Carbon Mineralization and Nutrient Turnover in a Scottish Sea Loch: An Integrative In Situ Study.

Abstract: Based on in situ microprofiles, chamber incubations and eddy covariance measurements, we investigated the benthic carbon mineralization and nutrient regeneration in a ~65-m-deep sedimentation basin of Loch Etive, UK. The sediment hosted a considerable amount of infauna that was dominated by the brittle star A. filiformis. The numerous burrows were intensively irrigated enhancing the benthic in situ O2 uptake by ~50 %, and inducing highly variable redox conditions and O2 distribution in the surface sediment as also documented by complementary laboratory-based planar optode measurements. The average benthic O2 exchange as derived by chamber incubations and the eddy covariance approach were similar (14.9 ± 2.5 and 13.1 ± 9.0 mmol m−2 day−1) providing confidence in the two measuring approaches. Moreover, the non-invasive eddy approach revealed a flow-dependent benthic O2 flux that was partly ascribed to enhanced ventilation of infauna burrows during periods of elevated flow rates. The ratio in exchange rates of ΣCO2 and O2 was close to unity, confirming that the O2 uptake was a good proxy for the benthic carbon mineralization in this setting. The infauna activity resulted in highly dynamic redox conditions that presumably facilitated an efficient degradation of both terrestrial and marine-derived organic material. The complex O2 dynamics of the burrow environment also concurrently stimulated nitrification and coupled denitrification rates making the sediment an efficient sink for bioavailable nitrogen. Furthermore, bioturbation mediated a high efflux of dissolved phosphorus and silicate. The study documents a high spatial and temporal variation in benthic solute exchange with important implications for benthic turnover of organic carbon and nutrients. However, more long-term in situ investigations with like approaches are required to fully understand how environmental events and spatio-temporal variations interrelate to the overall biogeochemical functioning of coastal sediments.