Scientists from various institutions were part of the publication, which highlights half a century of progress in the knowledge of the national sea.
Daniela Jofré, IDEAL Center. The National Oceanographic Committee (CONA), the body in charge of coordinating research related to marine sciences in Chile, chaired by the Hydrographic and Oceanic Service of the Navy (SHOA) and made up of different scientific institutions, has recently completed 50 years of operation.
To commemorate half a century of service, one of the activities carried out was the launch of the book “CIMAR 25 years. Marine Research Cruises in Remote Areas”, a publication that, in seven chapters, gives an account of the work carried out in the disciplines of oceanography: Physics, biology, chemistry and geology, among others.
Researchers from the IDEAL Center of the Austral University of Chile (UACh), Dr. Humberto González and Dr. José Luis Iriarte, were the authors of the chapter “Plankton in Chilean Patagonia: Distribution, trophic flows and potential impact on a changing ocean.”
In it, the research carried out since 1995 under the CIMAR program Fjords in Chilean Patagonia stands out, expanding since the last decade towards multidisciplinary work in order to know and understand the biogeochemical and atmospheric processes that occur in areas of difficult access.
The chapter offers an overview of the dynamics of oceanography in the South Seas, analyzing environmental processes such as carbon flux in food webs, acidification of the oceans, local stressors (melting) and the appearance of Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB).
The publication gives an account of the work carried out in the disciplines of oceanography: Physics, biology, chemistry and geology, among others.
“This book provides a summary of our studies on the ecology and oceanography of marine plankton in Chilean Patagonia, demonstrating its great relevance in the functioning of trophic flows and biogeochemical processes, in addition to highlighting its fragility in the face of aggressive climate change”, commented Dr. González, director of the IDEAL Center and academic of the Institute of Marine and Limnological Sciences of the UACh.
For his part, Dr. José Luis Iriarte, researcher at the IDEAL Center, the Oceanographic Research Center of the South-Eastern Pacific (COPAS) of the University of Concepción (UdeC) and academic at the Aquaculture Institute of the UACh, assured that this chapter collects vast information on planktonic processes such as marine photosynthesis and carbon flux, in inland seas from Puerto Montt to Cabo de Hornos.
“This information is a basic knowledge on some variables and the role of stressors that are currently modulating a changing ocean in Patagonia,” explained Dr. Iriarte.
The book can be downloaded here.