Meeting: Attending the 2016 Ocean Sciences Meeting in New Orleans

By admin In Meeting, REPORT On 2016-03-16

I presented my poster focusing on the distribution of transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) in meso- and bathypelagic oceans at 2016 Ocean Sciences Meeting (21–26 Feb). TEP are one of the main categories of gel particle in seawater and play important roles in carbon transport and food webs because they contain large amounts of carbon. However the distribution and roles of TEP in meso- and bathypelagic oceans have yet to be clarified fully. Here we collected seawater samples from subtropical and equatorial regions of the central Pacific and investigated full-depth distribution of TEP. Our results indicated that: 1) TEP distributed relatively uniformly from surface to bottom (0–5000 m), and 2) the estimated carbon mass of TEP was quite large compared to the particulate organic carbon concentration in meso- and bathypelagic oceans. These results suggested that TEP and other gel-like particles are potentially important organic carbon stock in deep oceans.

I was impressed with the breadth and depth of the research outcomes presented in this meeting, which is one of the largest meetings in the field of biological oceanography. It was also very exciting to meet and communicate with international experts, especially those working actively in the field of microbial ecology.

（PD Y. Yamada）

Presented Poster:

Yamada, T. Yokokawa, H. Ogawa, T. Nagata, “Gel-like particles dominate particulate organic carbon in the ocean’s interior – Evidence from subtropical and equatorial regions of the central Pacific” Ocean Sciences Meeting, New Orleans, USA, 24^th February, 2016