Simultaneous assessment of oxygen and nitrate-based net community production in a temperate shelf sea from a single ocean glider
Abstract. The continental shelf seas are important at a global scale for ecosystem services. These highly dynamic regions are under a wide range of stresses and as such future management requires appropriate monitoring measures. A key metric to understanding and predicting future change are the rates of biological productivity. We present here the use of a single autonomous underwater glider with oxygen (O2) and total oxidised nitrogen (NOx− = NO3− + NO2−) sensors during a spring bloom as part of a 2019 pilot autonomous shelf sea monitoring study. We find exceptionally high rates of net community production using both O2 and NOx− water column inventory changes, corrected for air-sea gas exchange in case of O2. We compare these rates with 2007 and 2008 mooring observations finding similar rates of NOx− consumption. With these complementary methods we determine the O:N amount ratio of the newly produced organic matter (7.8±0.4) and the overall O2:N ratio for the total water column (5.7±0.4). The former is close to the canonical Redfield O2:N ratio of 8.6±1.0, whereas the latter may be explained by a combination of new organic matter production and preferential remineralisation of more reduced organic matter at a higher O2:N ratio below the euphotic zone.