Long-term monitoring and analyses of physical factors regulating variability in coastal Antarctic phytoplankton biomass, in situ productivity and taxonomic composition over subseasonal, seasonal and interannual time scales

A 3 yr high-resolution temporal data base related to phytoplankton dynamics was collected during the austral spring/sumrner periods of 1991 to 1994 in shelf waters adjacent to Palmer Statlon, Antarctica. Here, the data base is used [ l ) to quantlfy the vanabillty in phytoplankton biomass, In sjtu productivity and taxonomic composition over subseasonal, seasonal and interannual time scales; (2) to elucidate environmental mechanisms controlling these temporal patterns; and (3) to ascertain which phytoplankton markers are most suitable-for detecting longer-term (i.e. decadal) trends in phytoplankton dynamlcs in coastal waters of the Southel-n Ocean. The Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) coastal study sites showed hlgh interannual var~abillty In peak phytoplankton blomass (75 to 494 mg chl a m-') and integrated pnmary productlon 11.08 to 6.58 g C m -' d ' ) .