BUSCADOR RECOLECTA

LATITUD-I Cruise (29HE19950305) carried out on the Research Vessel Hespérides in 1995, Latitudinal patterns in the regulation of ocean plankton production. The main objective of the project is to verify the hypothesis that the metabolic and photon balances of the oceanic photic layer vary systematically with latitude. Subobjectives: 1) Development and validation of predictive models that allow us to model the relationship between respiration, net production, and light absorption properties of the planktonic community and its primary production, and describe its latitudinal variation. 2) Development and validation of bio-optic models that describe the relationship between the color of the ocean and respiration and new production of the planktonic community. 3) elucidation of the importance of the availability of resources (nutrients, carbon, light) versus consumption (herbivorism) in the regulation of planktonic production along a gradient of latitude, with the variation in the associated production

LATITUD-II Cruise (29HE19951001) carried out on the Research Vessel Hespérides in 1995, Latitudinal patterns in regulation of the oceanic plankton production. Oceanographic campaign taking advantage in transit from BIO Hesperides to Antarctica, Mainly experiments have been conducted in the radioactive laboratory

ESEPAC-1 Cruise (29HE19990106) carried out on the Research Vessel Hespérides in 1999, Experimental Stimulation of Coastal Antarctic Production. The objective of the ESEPACcampaign is to recognize the factors that limit Antarctic plankton production in order to predict changes in carbon fluxes associated with changes in Antarctic plankton production. The achievement of this objective will be carried out through: 1) Experimental verification of the processes that regulate the production of plankton, through large-scale manipulation experiments in mesocosms (large incubation bags, 30000-50000 liters). 2) The comparison of the experimentally obtained predictions with observations of the planktonic dynamics in Antarctic waters of contrasting areas, by means of oceanographic sampling in diverse zones of the Antarctic Peninsula.

LATITUD-III Cruise (29HE19991101) carried out on the Research Vessel Hespérides in 1999, Latitudinal patterns in regulation of the oceanic plankton production. Latitudinal patterns in regulation of the oceanic plankton production . The objective of the campaign is to study the variation of growth and mortality of the photosynthetic plankton cells throughout the different oceanographic zones of the Central Atlantic, with special interest in tropical gyres (or oceanic deserts) where the conditions are extreme for these organisms. During the study, techniques will be applied for the first time to identify necrotic and apoptopic cells (the two described processes of cell death) in marine phytoplankton, processes that have only been observed in the laboratory. The cell death of photosynthetic plankton is a process unknown until recently, which has important consequences for the oceanic carbon cycle

ESEPAC-2 Cruise (29HE20000116) carried out on the Research Vessel Hespérides in 2000, Experimental Stimulation of Coastal Antarctic Production. The objective of the ESEPAC-2000 campaign is to recognize the factors that limit Antarctic plankton production in order to predict changes in carbon fluxes associated with changes in Antarctic plankton production. The achievement of this objective will be carried out through: 1) Experimental verification of the processes that regulate the production of plankton, through large-scale manipulation experiments in mesocosms (large incubation bags, 30000-50000 liters). 2) The comparison of the experimentally obtained predictions with observations of the planktonic dynamics in Antarctic waters of contrasting areas, by means of oceanographic sampling in diverse zones of the Antarctic Peninsula

LATITUD-IV Cruise (29HE20000317) carried out on the Research Vessel Hespérides in 2000, Latitudinal patterns in regulation of the oceanic plankton production . The objective of the campaign is to study the variation of growth and mortality of the photosynthetic plankton cells throughout the different aoceanographic zones of the Central Atlantic, with special interest in tropical gyres (or oceanic deserts) where the conditions are extreme for these organisms. During the study, techniques will be applied for the first time to identify necrotic and apoptopic cells (the two described processes of cell death) in marine phytoplankton, processes that have only been observed in the laboratory. The cell death of photosynthetic plankton is a process unknown until recently, which has important consequences for the oceanic carbon cycle

COCA-1 Cruise (29HE20020910) carried out on the Research Vessel Hespérides in 2002, Carbon flux in the Canary region: identification of local balance and trophic structure. Determination of local balances of organic carbon and trophic structure in the Canary region. Determination of organic carbon flows and coupling between coastal export and demand in the subtropical gyre. Experiments have been carried out related to the growt of phytoplankton and bacteria under specific conditions

COCA-2 Cruise (29HE20030520) carried out on the Research Vessel Hespérides in 2003, Carbon flux at the Canary Atlantic Area: coupling between coastal export and oceanic demand. (COCA). Its objective is to determine the organic carbon balance of the planktonic community of the Canary Region, and the causes of its variation between the coastal zone of North-West Africa, highly productive, and the zone of low biological production of the Subtropical Gyre, as well as the exchanges of organic carbon between these two systems.Four experiments were conducted along a range from highly oligotrophic to productive environments