At all stations, we followed a "drogue drifter" (far left) to keep track of water masses over time. Other in-water instruments measured temperature, salinity, and fluorescence at depth (traces shown above). Below are microscope-derived photos taken from our open ocean station net tow samples.
Trichodesmium is a common cyanobacteria ("blue-green algae") in tropical to subtropical waters. It exists as single "filaments"...
... or as colonies (20 - 200 "filaments"). Colonies may be visible to the unaided eye (1-10 mm in length).
Pyrocystis noctiluca is a bioluminescent dinoflagellate (above). Ceratium is another dinoflagellate that was found in our open ocean net tows (>>).
Although infrequently observed, some chain diatoms were discovered in our open ocen net tows (above).
Unusual blue copepods were sampled: why might copepods that live in the Sargasso Sea have this color? Pictured at left (<<) is a copepod nauplii (lower right corner), a "favorite food" for larvae-eaters.
Enchinoderm larva have distinctive shapes (above, left). The "snail-like" organism (above, middle) is likely Foraminifera, an amoeba with a calcareous shell. To its right is Tintinnid, a ciliate that feeds on small phytoplankton. The star-shaped organisms (>>) are radiolaria, amoebae that have symbiotic relationships with phytoplankton.