Éditeur(s) : Gauthier-Villars
Résumé : The variability of ''yellow substance'' in waters of the Skagerrak and the Kattegat was studied during the international Skagex programme in 1990 and 1991. Data on attenuation of light and fluorescence of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in sea water were collected with a spectral transmissiometer and a submersible fluorometer within a depth range of 0-250 m at several stations. More than fifty-fold variations of fluorescence intensity over space and time were due to the combined action of different sources of DOM in the straits. The surface maximum of fluorescing DOM, related to river outflow, was spreading from Oslo fjord to the central Skagerrak in late spring. This maximum may be ecologically important because it diminishes shortwave PAR. In the autumn the brightest DOM fluorescence was found in the Kattegat and along the Norwegian coast in accordance with earlier studies. The local minima of DOM fluorescence are associated with the Jutland current. Both the instability of the current and a ten-fold difference in DOM content between deep layers of the Skagerrak and Kattegat resulted in strong synoptic variability of fluorescence in the transitional area between the straits. Seasonal and synoptic variabilities of ''yellow substance'' were minimal in the southern Kattegat. The vertical gradients of DOM fluorescence were mostly negative at the depth of the thermocline of the open Skagerrak in spring, reaching values of 40-50 % m-1. Fine structure and complex shape were inherent to fluorescence profiles from areas of intensive water mixing. DOM fluorescence closely covaried with attenuation of UV light: the correlation coefficient was + 0.9 for wavelength w <= 350 nm regardless of season. The inverse dependence between wavelength derivative and magnitude of UV attenuation in the straits did not change with season. DOM fluorescence and water salinity were negatively correlated at depths of 25-50 m but they varied independently in the upper 10 m. No significant correlation between fluorescence and nitrates has been found. Estimates of correlation with phosphates ranged from 0.7 to 0.8. In general, the changes of fluorescence were due to variations of DOM content in sea water but not to variability of DOM composition or state. The properties of DOM fluorescence in the Skagerrak-Kattegat area make it a useful natural tracer of water movements suitable for active remote sensing with airborne lidar.
Oceanologica Acta (0399-1784) (Gauthier-Villars), 1993 , Vol. 16 , N. 2 , P. 115-125

Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00099/21041/18667.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00099/21041/