Plankton Dynamics on the Africana Voyage 089, February 1991

The Plankton Dynamics cruise on the Africana Voyage 089 was conducted from 12-23 February 1991. The objectives of the cruise were to complete a summer transect to provide information on zooplankton vertical migration patterns during the period of maximum upwelling; to contrast hydrological and planktological conditions across the shelf just north of the Columbine divergence, at a time when pelagic fish larvae transported in the jet current were crossing the shelf to the nursery area; to measure rates of primary and secondary production in different size classes of planktonic organisms at offshore (shelf-break), mid shelf and inshore locations; to examine the influence of recent feeding history on the condition of pre-recruit pelagic fish; to measure time-dependent fluctuations in the currents using the acoustic doppler current profiler; and to make measurements of nitrogen dynamics within the planktonic community.