Quarterdeck Volume 5, Number 1, Spring 1997
Plankton fluorescence and light attenuation
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Under normal summer conditions plankton are most abundant
in a layer about 25 meters below the surface. Light is significantly attenuated
in this layer and near the seafloor where currents resuspend sediments from
the bottom. Light attenuation is lowest, making visibility greatest, beneath
the layer of abundant plankton. Hurricane Edouard mixed the water column
and resuspended sediment high above the seafloor. Just days after the hurricane,
however, sediments settled back down.
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