Spatiotemporal Topic Modeling Reveals Storm‐Driven Advection and Stirring Control Plankton Community Variability in an Open Ocean Eddy
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Phytoplankton communities in the open ocean are high‐dimensional, sparse, and spatiotemporally heterogeneous. The advent of automated imaging systems has enabled high‐resolution observation of these communities, but the amounts of data and their statistical properties make analysis with traditional approaches challenging. Spatiotemporal topic models offer an unsupervised and interpretable approach to dimensionality reduction of sparse, high‐dimensional categorical data. Here we use topic modeling to analyze neural‐network‐classified phytoplankton imagery taken in and around a retentive eddy during the 2021 North Atlantic EXport Processes in the Ocean from Remote Sensing (EXPORTS) field campaign. We investigate the role physical‐biological interactions play in altering plankton community composition within the eddy. Analysis of a water mass mixing framework suggests that storm‐driven surface advection and stirring were major drivers of the progression of the eddy plankton community away from a diatom bloom over the course of the cruise.
DOI: 10.1029/2024jc020907
Authors: John E. San Soucie, Yogesh Girdhar, Leah Johnson, Emily E. Peacock, Alexi Shalapyonok, Heidi M. Sosik
Language: English
Subfield: Oceanography
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life below water
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,880
Awards: PHYTOPLANKTON ARE CHARACTERIZED BY TREMENDOUS DIVERSITY THAT CRITICALLY AFFECTS OCEAN ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING. THE EXPORTS PHYTOPLANKTON BES PROGRAM ELEMENT SEEKS TO ADDRESS THE ROLE THAT PHYTOPLANKTON DIVERSITY PLAYS IN DETERMINING (1) NET PRIMARY PRODUCTION (NPP) (2) STANDING STOCK OF PHYTOPLANKTON CARBON IN THE EUPHOTIC ZONE (3) EXPORT EFFICIENCY OF PHYTOPLANKTON CARBON OUT OF THE EUPHOTIC ZONE AND (4) FLUX TRANSMISSION OF THIS MATERIAL BELOW THE EUPHOTIC ZONE INTO THE TWILIGHT ZONE. THE EXPORTS OPTICS PROGRAM ELEMENT SEEKS TO QUANTIFY THE OPTICAL MEASUREMENTS THAT LINK ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION TO REMOTELY SENSED PRODUCTS VIA CARBON-BASED OPTICAL PROXIES. IN THIS PROPOSAL WE CONTRIBUTE TO THESE PROGRAM ELEMENTS BY FOCUSING ON PHYTOPLANKTON DIVERSITY AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES/PROXIES OF KEY PHYTOPLANKTON COMMUNITY STRUCTURE ELEMENTS (I.E. CONCENTRATION COMPOSITION AND SIZE) AND HOW THOSE FACTORS INFLUENCE EXPORT FROM AND TRANSFORMATION BELOW THE EUPHOTIC ZONE. THE ABILITY TO DIFFERENTIATE PHYTOPLANKTON BASED UPON THEIR FUNCTIONAL DIFFERENCES IS CRUCIAL TO QUANTIFY HOW DIFFERENT GROUPS IMPACT CARBON STOCKS AND FLUXES. WE INTEND TO MEASURE PHYTOPLANKTON DIVERSITY AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES BY CONSTRUCTING A CONTINUOUS UNDERWAY FLOW-THROUGH SYSTEM FOR THE SURVEY SHIP DESCRIBED IN THE EXPORTS SCIENCE PLAN. OUR SYSTEM WILL CONSIST OF IMAGING-IN-FLOW CYTOMETRY HYPERSPECTRAL ABSORPTION AND ATTENUATION (SCATTERING BY DIFFERENCE) MULTISPECTRAL BACKSCATTERING AND MULTI-EXCITATION CHLOROPHYLL FLUORESCENCE. WATER SAMPLES FROM CTD CASTS TO TWILIGHT DEPTHS WILL ALSO BE MEASURED IN DISCRETE MODE TO QUANTIFY THE TRANSFORMATION AND CHANGE IN DIVERSITY OF ALGAL CELLS (AND THEIR ASSOCIATED OPTICAL PROPERTIES) AS THEY SINK THROUGH THE WATER COLUMN., NRI: INT: Co-Multi-Robotic Exploration of the Benthic Seafloor - New Methods for Distributed Scene Understanding and Exploration in the Presence of Communication Constraints, G7149470371
OpenAlex ID: W4404195656