Application of a lidar fluorosensor system to the continuous and remote monitoring of the Southern Ocean and Antarctic Ross Sea: results collected during the XIII and XV Italian oceanographic campaigns

A mobile fluorosensor laboratory, including as main constituent a lidar fluorosensor apparatus for remote measurements at water surface and ancillary instruments dedicated to local analyses, was developed for extensive biooptical monitoring of the sea waters. Continuous remote and local measurements of Chl-a (Chlorophyll a) and CDOM (Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter) were performed during the XIII (1997/1998) and XV (1999/2000) marine campaigns in the South-western Ross Sea and along the Southern Ocean transects to New Zealand as part of the Italian Research Programme for Antarctica. Chl-a and CDOM fluorescence maps of the investigated areas revealed the bio-optical peculiarity of coastal zones and seasonal changes encountered.