Deployment: HG93_CARIACO

Monthly oceanographic cruises to the CARIACO station (10.5 degrees N, 64.67 degrees W) have been conducted since November 1995 to examine the hydrography, primary production, and settling flux of particulate material. The research vessel is the 75-foot B/O (Barco Oceanografico) Hermano Gines of the Fundaciòn La Salle de Ciencias Naturales (FLASA) located on Margarita Island, Venezuela. Water is collected using a rosette ensemble equipped with twelve 8-liter bottles and a CTD (conductivity-temperature-depth meter); the CTD also has an oxygen sensor, a fluorometer for chlorophyll-a estimates, and a transmissometer. Data are read out real-time on a computer screen on board the ship as the rosette ensemble is lowered to approximately 1,380 m, the bottom of the Cariaco Basin. Water samples are analyzed for various parameters including phytoplankton biomass, dissolved and particulate nutrient and carbon concentration, primary productivity rates and total bacterial production.