Equatorial Pacific TAO Moorings

     Recent calculations suggest that the equatorial Pacific is an important contributor to the global carbon and nitrogen cycles as a result of the upwelling of large quantities of inorganic carbon and nitrogen to the surface.  Considering that the equatorial Pacific is important to global carbon and nitrogen cycles, it is clear that global budgets need improved estimates of the nutrient supply, exchange of carbon dioxide between ocean and atmosphere, and primary productivity in this area.  Equally important, the regulation of variability needs to be understood to provide a mechanistic explanation of the climate/marine chemistry/productivity feedback loop.  Time series measurements of physical and meteorological properties, which resolve the important scales of variability, are currently being taken in the equatorial Pacific, but there are no parallel time series of biological and chemical parameters.  This study is designed to obtain continuous time series of biological and chemical properties on a time scale that is equivalent to measurements of currents, local winds, and temperature structure.

     After a pilot program to develop and deploy biological and chemical sensors on a TAO type mooring in Monterey Bay, California,  with support from MBARI, NASA-SIMBIOS, and the Office of Global Programs, we have added instrumentation on 2 TAO moorings deployed along the equatorial Pacific. 


     If you have comments regarding the Biological Oceanography Group's Equatorial Pacific pages you are welcome to contact us through our group's webmaster.