BUSCADOR RECOLECTA

ATOS-1 Cruise (29HE20070627) carried out on the Research Vessel Hespérides in 2007, ATOS: Atmospheric inputs of organic carbon and pollutants to the polar ocean: rates, significance and outlook. The ATOS project aims at resolving the increasing role of air-sea exchanges of materials in the polar sea by (1) quantifying the atmospheric inputs of organic carbon and key organic pollutants both in aerosol and gaseous phases; (2) elucidating the role of sea ice cover in controlling these rates and the inputs associated to sea ice melting; (3) evaluating the fate of the materials, by assessing their use by biota and transference up the food webs, and (4) evaluating the effects on microplankton as the entry points of the materials in the food web, through evaluations of cell mortality in relation to pollutant inputs and parallel increases in ultraviolet raditation dosage, and the evaluation of the effect of the materials on planktonic primary production and community respiration. This project will advance current knowledge on the relevance of air-sea interactions for the metabolism, and flow of pollutants, of pelagic polar ecosystems, as well as provide a basis to forecast the effects of future reductions of sea icea in polar seas and oceans on the functioning of the pelagic ecosystems. Moreover, as the atmospheric materials that enter the sea in polar regions are likely to be introduced elsewhere, primarily on land, this research will provide novel insights onto the role of the atmosphere as a vector linking loading of organic carbon and pollutants in temperate and tropical latitudes and the inputs of these materials to polar seas and oceans. Moreover, the process-based examination of the response of microplankton to these inputs will allow formulation of models to forecast responses to future scenarios