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The diel vertical migration (DVM) of zooplankton contributes to the biological pump transporting material from surface to deep waters. We examined the DVM of the zooplankton community in different size fractions (53–200 μm, 200–500 μm, 500–1000 μm, 1000–2000 μm and > 2000 μm) during three cruises carried out in the open NW Mediterranean Sea. We assessed their metabolic rates from empirical published relationships and estimated the active fluxes of dissolved carbon to the mesopelagic zone driven by migrant zooplankton. Within the predominantly oligotrophic Mediterranean Sea, the NW region is one of the most productive ones, with a seasonal cycle characterized by a prominent spring bloom. The study area was visited at three different phases of the seasonal cycle: during the spring bloom, the post-bloom, and strongly stratified oligotrophic conditions. We found seasonal differences in DVM, less evident during the bloom. Changes in DVM intensity were related to the composition of the zooplanktonic assemblage, which also varied between cruises. Euphausiids appeared as the most active migrants in all seasons, and their life cycle conditioned the observed pattern. Immature stages, which are unable to perform large diel vertical movements, dominated during the bloom, in contrast to the higher relative importance of migrating adults in the other two sampling periods. The amount of dissolved carbon exported was determined by the migrant zooplankton biomass, being highest during the post-bloom (2.2 mmol C respired m− 2 d− 1, and up to 3.1 mmol C exported m− 2 d− 1 when DOC release estimations are added). The active transport by diel migrants represented a substantial contribution to total carbon export to deep waters, especially under stratified oligotrophic conditions, revealing the importance of zooplankton in the biological pump operating in the study area., Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. Proyecto FAMOSO CTM2008-06261-C03, SI

The Margalef´s mandala (1978) is a simplified bottom-up control model that explains how mixing and nutrient concentration determine the composition of marine phytoplankton communities. Due to the difficulties of measuring turbulence in the field, previous attempts to verify this model have applied different proxies for nutrient supply, and very often used interchangeably the terms mixing and stratification. Moreover, because the mandala was conceived before the discovery of smaller phytoplankton groups (picoplankton

The diel vertical migration (DVM) of zooplankton contributes to the biological pump transporting material from surface to deep waters. We examined the DVM of the zooplankton community in five different size fractions in the open NW Mediterranean Sea. We found differences in DVM at three phases of the seasonal cycle: during the spring bloom, post-bloom, and strongly stratified oligotrophic conditions. DVM intensity was related to the composition of the zooplanktonic assemblage, which also varied between cruises. Euphausiids appeared as the most active migrants in all seasons, and their life cycle conditioned the observed pattern. We estimated active fluxes of dissolved carbon to the mesopelagic zone driven by migrant zooplankton. The amount of dissolved carbon exported was highest during post-bloom conditions (2.2 mmol C respired m-2 d-1, and up to 3.1 mmol C exported m-2 d-1 when DOC release estimations are added). Active transport by diel migrants represented a substantial contribution to total carbon export to deep waters, especially under stratified oligotrophic conditions, revealing the importance of zooplankton in the biological pump operating in the study area.

Dynamics of Mediterranean deep waters, 27-30 May 2009, Malta.-- 9 pages, 5 figures, Sea-atmosphere interactions play an important role on the oceanographic processes at various spatial and temporal scales. In the Mediterranean Sea, several regions are key spots of intense airsea interactions which affect considerably the heat and water budgets. An example of this is the wintertime formation of dense water through interaction with the atmosphere, and further sinking by convection or cascading. The Gulf of Lions is one of the regions in the Mediterranean where massive dense water formation occurs because of cooling and evaporation of surface waters during winter-time. Concurrent with the well known open-sea convection process over the MEDOC region, coastal surface waters over the wide shelf of the Gulf of Lions also become denser than the underlying waters and cascade downslope until reaching their equilibrium depth. Through this climate-driven phenomenon, dense shelf waters carrying large quantities of particles in suspension are rapidly advected hundreds of meters deep, mainly through submarine canyons. Recent observations within the frame of several research initiatives conducted in the north-western Mediterranean indicate that major dense shelf water cascades from the Gulf of Lions have a direct effect on the Western Mediterranean Deep Water (WMDW) thermohaline properties and are responsible for the formation of a thick and persistent bottom nepheloid layer (BNL) that spreads throughout the western Mediterranean basin and scales in thickness with the WMDW anomaly created during sever winters like those of 1999 and 2005, This research was supported by the EuroSTRATAFORM Program funded by the ONR (contract N00014-04-1-0379) and by the EC 5th FP (project EVK3-2002-00079). Additional support was obtained from the HERMES Project funded by the EC 6th FP (contract GOCE-CT-2005-511234) and by the project EFLUBIO funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (Ref: REN2002-04151-C02-01/MAR). The HC-ICM mooring turnaround was also supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (Ref: CTM2007-28881-E)