Overview of the US JGOFS Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study and the Hydrostation S program Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • In October 1988 the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) commenced sampling the Sargasso Sea in an area 85 km south-east of Bermuda as part of the U.S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS). The scientific goal of the BATS program is to understand the causes of seasonal and interannual variability in ocean biogeochemistry both at this site and as it may relate to biogeochemistry of the rest of the ocean. Bermuda is also the site of other continuing and historical oceanic and atmospheric time-series programs. The ongoing Hydrostation S time-series commenced in 1954 and the biweekly profiles of temperature, salinity and oxygen provide data to link the more recent biogeochemistry time-series studies to the decadal variability in this region. Data on midwater particle fluxes have been collected continuously since 1976, ongoing measurements of atmospheric chemistry and wet and dry deposition began in 1980 and a long-term study of benthic boundary fluxes began in 1986. These various time-series studies complement each other and combine to make this region one of the most heavily documented oceanic environments in the world. The BATS and Hydrostation S programs each sample the ocean on a biweekly-to-monthly basis, a strategy that resolves the major seasonal patterns, interannual variability and decadal patterns. The Sargasso Sea also has more episodic or local processes, such as fluctuations that occur on scales of days to weeks and mesoscale eddies, and potentially patterns from the net advection of water past the sampling sites; these processes are more difficult to resolve by the one-dimensional time-series sampling strategy. The BATS program has begun to provide a coherent picture of the oceanic carbon and nutrient cycles in this region and the linkage between these cycles and the biological, chemical, physical and optical processes that control them. The significant interannual and decadal variability in the physical environment near Bermuda also allows us to examine the longer-term relationships between the physical forcing and biogeochemical response. Finally, the BATS program has proved a valuable platform to support other ancillary oceanographic research and technology development. These studies all benefit from the existence of the core time-series studies to add context and value to their more specific research efforts and they, in turn, further enhance the diversity of co-located measurements in this area. Copyright 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.

published proceedings

  • DEEP-SEA RESEARCH PART II-TOPICAL STUDIES IN OCEANOGRAPHY

altmetric score

  • 3

author list (cited authors)

  • Michaels, A. F., & Knap, A. H.

citation count

  • 272

complete list of authors

  • Michaels, AF||Knap, AH

publication date

  • January 1996