TITLE:      Preliminary findings on the mesoscale relationship(s) between
            mixed layer depth, proxy measures of vertical nutrient flux 
	    and phytoplankton community composition in the Southern Ocean 
	    waters west of Palmer Peninsula, Antarctica
AUTHOR:    BB Prezelin, C Mengelt, M Moline, and E Hofmann
DATE:      10-14 February 1997 
PLACE:     ASLO, Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Santa Fe, New Mexico
           Talk
ABSTRACT:  
 Employing a portion of the enormous and highly resolved hydrographic,
inorganic nutrient and algal pigmentation data collected between
1991-1994 for Antarctic coastal Case I and Case II waters during the
Palmer LTER program, we have begun to explore relationship(s) between
1) mixed layer depth (MLD) and stratification intensity; 2) proxy
measures of nutrient flux rates and ratios, 3) integrated Chlorophyll
a and taxon-specific pigmentation between the MLD and the surface, or
just below the fresher water lens if evident, and 4) phytoplankton
community composition.  Special emphasis is being given to the
conditions that may be associated with diatom accumulation and
dominance over other algal groups in the upper mixed layer.  Such
testing of the physical-biological coupling of phytoplankton dynamics
in the Southern Ocean has been limited in the past and our findings
should be relevant to ongoing LTER, GLOBEC and JGOFS programs in the
Southern Ocean.