PRODUCTIVITY REGIME AND PHYTOPLANKTON SIZE STRUCTURE IN THE ARABIAN SEA

The productivity regime and size structure of phytoplankton are described for three different epipelagic systems in the Arabian Sea during the inter-monsoon period in spring 1987: (1) the coast of Oman; (2) the central Arabian Sea; and (3) the shelf off Pakistan. These results are related to the functioning of the specific ecosystem. Off the coast of Oman, the transition from a surface maximum of autotrophic biomass and production to a more oligotrophic system, with a chlorophyll subsurface maximum, was observed. Concomitantly, the size spectrum changed towards a higher significance of picoplankton. In the central Arabian Sea, a typical oligotrophic system with a pronounced subsurface maximum of autotrophic biomass and primary production was encountered. Here, the epipelagic system could be divided into two distinct sub-systems: the surface layer ''regenerated'' production, the predominance of picophytoplankton and minor losses due to sedimentation, thus a ''closed'' system; and the subsurface maximum layer at the nutricline characterized by higher sedimentation losses and more diatoms. Both sub-systems showed about the same productivity, the turnover in the surface layer having been much greater than in the subsurface maximum. The system on the shelf off Pakistan is seen as a decay stage of the open ocean system when water from offshore is transported onto the shelf during the onset of monsoon winds.