Plankton Tow Options

[Robert_Oddo]

Hey Steve,
When they do the plankton tow are they getting mostly diatoms? I find this interesting in that whatever they are getting probably are the producers capturing most of the energy for the entire arctic ecosystem to function on. Did you get any information of what kind of organisms they got in the plankton tow?

Bob

[Steve_Marshall]

Hey Bob, thanks for the questions.

You are correct that a majority of the plankton we retrieved was diatoms. However, there was more of a variety than I would have expected. Each tow recovered numerous copepods that were large enough to be seen moving around, and there were also some foraminifera present. The scientists who have been working with the tows have been kind enough to give me several samples once they do some processing of them after the cruise. Once I receive those samples, I can give you more specific percentages of organism types

Steve