Some Chemical and Microbiological Observations in the Pacific Ocean off the Hawaiian ISLANDS1
Abstract
Simultaneous chemical and microbial analyses of the water column were made at 33 stations off the leeward Hawaiian Islands. The overall distribution of oxygen, nitrate, and pH was similar at all stations located more than 5 km offshore. These parameters were closely correlated and also correlated with nitrifying and nitrate-reducing activity in the water column. The distribution of nitrite and ammonium did not correlate with the oxygen distribution. A nitrite band was consistently found in the lower portion of the photic zone and appeared to have originated from reduction of nitrate rather than from oxidation of ammonium. The distribution of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria was regulated by the amount of available organic nutrients and not by the oxygen concentration.
- Publication:
-
Limnology and Oceanography
- Pub Date:
- July 1972
- DOI:
- Bibcode:
- 1972LimOc..17..524G