RRS Discovery Cruise 130, 25 March - 14 April 2021, Time-series studies at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Sustained Observatory

RRS Discovery cruise 130 departed Southampton 25th March 2021, operated in the Whittard Canyon (28th-29th March) and the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Sustained Observatory area (30th March – 11th April 2021), returning to Southampton 15th April 2021. The goal of the cruise was to continue time-series observations of the surface ocean, water column, and seafloor at the site, as first studied by NOC (then the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences) in 1985. Additional goals were to service a mooring at Whittard Canyon and start the EXPORTS programme by deployment of a UK (iFADO) and 2 USA (EXPORTS) gliders. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic limited to operations to some extent with reduced staff on board but DY130 was a more complete cruise than DY116. The main aims were to recover data and infrastructure and deploy replacement moorings at PAP and in the Whittard Canyon, to continue time series sampling at PAP-SO and collaborate with the USA EXPORTS programme. The new Met Office Mobilis buoy was successfully recovered and it was redeployed with a sensor frame at 30m, restarting the time series of subsurface measurements. The sediment traps were successfully turned around at both PAP and the Whittard canyon. A series of water column observation and sampling operations were successfully carried out with a CTD instrument package. The CTD deployments included pre-and post-deployment calibrations of PAP1 and PAP3 sensors. The benthic time series was continued with a series of seafloor photographic surveys, sediment core sampling, amphipod traps and trawling. A series of zooplankton nets were collected en route at PAP-SO. Underway data were collected and a Met Office Biogeochemistry Argo float was deployed. We deployed two gliders for the NASA led USA EXPORTS and a UK glider (GOCART, iFADO projects). The 3 gliders surveyed nearby features to the north west, north east and south of PAP. All three gliders were validated at sea, with additional sampling from the CTD rosettes following EXPORTS protocols. The gliders were retrieved in May 2021 on the EXPORTS cruises. This cruise was a contribution to the Climate Linked Atlantic Section Science (CLASS) project supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (grant number NE/R015953/1)

Revision of the taxonomic status of \u3ci\u3eAphis floridanae\u3c/i\u3e Tissot (Hemiptera: Aphididae) using morphological and molecular insight

Morphological and cytochrome oxidase 1 (Cox1) data show that Aphis floridanae Tissot (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is not synonymous with A. nasturtii Kaltenbach. Instead, A. floridanae matches the morphological characters of A. impatientis Thomas. Additionally, the range of cytochrome oxidase 1 (Cox1) pair-wise distance of the multiple collections of A. impatientis on Cornus spp., Impatiens spp. and Erechtites hieraciifolius (L.) Raf. ex DC. is 0–0.39%. Therefore, we conclude that A. floridanae Tissot, 1933 is a junior synonym of A. impatientis Thomas, 1878, new synonymy. In addition, A. impatientis is re-described, including first descriptions of the ovipara and alate male of that species

Outgassing of CO2 dominates in the coastal upwelling off the northwest African coast

The Eastern Boundary Upwelling System off northwest Africa is among the most productive regions of the ocean. In 2019, two merchant ships equipped with an underway CO2 system sampled the region following exactly the same track from 10°N to 36°N. We determine the sources and sinks of CO2 and the seasonal cycle along the track. A weak permanent upwelling (WPU), a permanent upwelling (PU) and an open ocean regions are identified. The WPU (26°N to 33°N) is a source of CO2 in summer and autumn, and a sink of CO2 in winter and spring. Thermodynamic warming and cooling processes mainly drive the CO2 variations in this region. The PU (20°N to 26°N) is a sink of CO2 in spring and a source of CO2 in other seasons. This region is the most productive and exhibits the largest variability of the CO2 flux. The supply of CO2 from subsurface waters dominate over the carbon uptake by biology, which leads to a strong outgassing, especially in winter and autumn. A sink of CO2 occurs in spring only in the PU. Near Cape Blanc (20°N) in July 2019, a source of CO2 is observed around 20°N within ± 1° of latitude and becomes a sink of CO2 a few days later when the ship samples back the same area. South of 18°N, out of the influence of the coastal upwelling, the region is a sink of CO2 in winter only and the region is mainly controlled by physical processes. Using voyages from 2010 to 2022, seawater fCO2 significantly increases at a rate ranging from 1.82 μatm yr−1 to 2.10 μatm yr−1 close to the atmospheric increase. This is associated with a pH decrease between 0.0016 to 0.0022 yr−1. Nevertheless, there is no clear trend of the CO2 flux in any region

Case Study of a Comprehensive Team-Based Approach to Increase Colorectal Cancer Screening

Introduction: Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among men and women in West Virginia. In addition, 51% of all colorectal cancers diagnosed in West Virginia from 2012 to 2016 were detected at either regional (31%) or distant (20%) stages indicating a need for improved early detection. Methods: West Virginia University Cheat Lake Physicians participated in the West Virginia Program to Increase Colorectal Cancer Screening, a program of Cancer Prevention and Control at the WVU Cancer Institute. As a result, Cheat Lake Physicians assembled a team of health care professionals to implement evidence-based interventions and system changes including provider assessment and feedback, patient reminders, accurate data capture, and tracking of CRC screening tests. Results: These efforts resulted in a 15.8% increase in colorectal cancer screening rates within one year of implementation. Additionally, the clinic achieved a 66% return rate for Fecal Immunochemical Test kits, an inexpensive, stool-based colorectal cancer screening test. Implications: The utilization of a team-based approach to patient care yields positive results that can be carried over to other cancer and disease prevention efforts in primary care clinics

Carbon dioxide and ocean acidification observations in UK waters. Synthesis report with a focus on 2010–2015

Key messages: 1.1 The process of ocean acidification is now relatively well-documented at the global scale as a long-term trend in the open ocean. However, short-term and spatial variability can be high. 1.2 New datasets made available since Charting Progress 2 make it possible to greatly improve the characterisation of CO2 and ocean acidification in UK waters. 3.1 Recent UK cruise data contribute to large gaps in national and global datasets. 3.2 The new UK measurements confirm that pH is highly variable, therefore it is important to measure consistently to determine any long term trends. 3.3 Over the past 30 years, North Sea pH has decreased at 0.0035±0.0014 pH units per year. 3.4 Upper ocean pH values are highest in spring, lowest in autumn. These changes reflect the seasonal cycles in photosynthesis, respiration (decomposition) and water mixing. 3.5 Carbonate saturation states are minimal in the winter, and lower in 7 more northerly, colder waters. This temperature-dependence could have implications for future warming of the seas. 3.6 Over the annual cycle, North-west European seas are net sinks of CO2. However, during late summer to autumn months, some coastal waters may be significant sources. 3.7 In seasonally-stratified waters, sea-floor organisms naturally experience lower pH and saturation states; they may therefore be more vulnerable to threshold changes. 3.8 Large pH changes (0.5 - 1.0 units) can occur in the top 1 cm of sediment; however, such effects are not well-documented. 3.9 A coupled forecast model estimates the decrease in pH trend within the North Sea to be -0.0036±0.00034 pH units per year, under a high greenhouse gas emissions scenario (RCP 8.5). 3.10 Seasonal estimates from the forecast model demonstrate areas of the North Sea that are particularly vulnerable to aragonite undersaturation

Demonstration of a transnational cooperation for harmonized chlorophyll a monitoring in the North East Atlantic Ocean

Comunicación presentada al EUROGOOS 2023, Galway, Ireland 3-5 October 2023The concentration of chlorophyll a (Chla), a proxy for phytoplankton biomass, is used as indicator for several criteria of three Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) descriptors (D1C6, the biodiversity of pelagic habitats; D4, food webs; and D5, eutrophication). Satellite Earth observation utilises algorithms that link the satellite observations of waterleaving radiance and the in-water Chla. Among the main sources of variability around this regression to define algorithms are the uncertainties in the in situ measurements due to the lack of consistency in the approaches employed in monitoring programs and research cruises. For example, global analyses based on measurements of Chla by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), considered the reference technique for Chla, are usually derived from studies of independent investigators, so methodological differences between laboratories can introduce significant uncertainties. In addition, since HPLC is a relatively expensive and expertise-demanding technique, Chla concentration have been customarily determined in long-term oceanographic time-series programs by alternative techniques, such as spectrofluorometry (e.g., in RADIALES (Spain)) and fluorometry (e.g., in Plymouth Station L4, Western Channel Observatory (UK)). However, the agreement in the results obtained with these techniques has only been compared in a few ancient studies. The cooperation among Member States required by the MSFD for methodological harmonization has triggered a transnational collaboration involving some partners of the Interreg Atlantic Area project iFADO (Innovation in the framework of the Atlantic deep ocean) for a joint monitorization of Chla in the North East Atlantic Ocean (NEA) region. In situ data have been obtained in 21 research cruises and sampling sites, from coastal to offshore environments, by using standardized sampling and analytical methods. We will report on the results obtained from this operational demonstration and how this collaborative transnational initiative allowed us: i) to intercalibrate the methods currently used for the analysis of discrete samples (HPLC, spectrofluorometry, fluorometry) and assess them in terms of accuracy, costs and effectiveness; ii) to calibrate continuous measurements obtained with optical sensors and remote sensing results with HPLC data; iv) to extend in situ observations temporally and spatially through remote sensing for MSFD assessments; iii) to contribute to the integration of data of different accuracy, spatial scale and resolution in databases and to their dissemination in data hubs according to FAIR principles. This work will provide detailed guidelines for in situ sampling, analysis, and data quality control for Chla monitoring and will contribute harmonized data for the next MSFD assessment cycles for the target descriptors

Carbon on the Northwest European Shelf: Contemporary Budget and Future Influences

A carbon budget for the northwest European continental shelf seas (NWES) was synthesized using available estimates for coastal, pelagic and benthic carbon stocks and flows. Key uncertainties were identified and the effect of future impacts on the carbon budget were assessed. The water of the shelf seas contains between 210 and 230 Tmol of carbon and absorbs between 1.3 and 3.3 Tmol from the atmosphere annually. Off-shelf transport and burial in the sediments account for 60–100 and 0–40% of carbon outputs from the NWES, respectively. Both of these fluxes remain poorly constrained by observations and resolving their magnitudes and relative importance is a key research priority. Pelagic and benthic carbon stocks are dominated by inorganic carbon. Shelf sediments contain the largest stock of carbon, with between 520 and 1600 Tmol stored in the top 0.1 m of the sea bed. Coastal habitats such as salt marshes and mud flats contain large amounts of carbon per unit area but their total carbon stocks are small compared to pelagic and benthic stocks due to their smaller spatial extent. The large pelagic stock of carbon will continue to increase due to the rising concentration of atmospheric CO2, with associated pH decrease. Pelagic carbon stocks and flows are also likely to be significantly affected by increasing acidity and temperature, and circulation changes but the net impact is uncertain. Benthic carbon stocks will be affected by increasing temperature and acidity, and decreasing oxygen concentrations, although the net impact of these interrelated changes on carbon stocks is uncertain and a major knowledge gap. The impact of bottom trawling on benthic carbon stocks is unique amongst the impacts we consider in that it is widespread and also directly manageable, although its net effect on the carbon budget is uncertain. Coastal habitats are vulnerable to sea level rise and are strongly impacted by management decisions. Local, national and regional actions have the potential to protect or enhance carbon storage, but ultimately global governance, via controls on emissions, has the greatest potential to influence the long-term fate of carbon stocks in the northwestern European continental shelf

Enduring science: Three decades of observing the Northeast Atlantic from the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Sustained Observatory (PAP-SO)

Until the 1980s, the deep sea was generally considered to be a particularly stable environment, free from major temporal variations (Sanders, 1968). Studies in the abyssal northeast Atlantic by Billett et al. (1983), and subsequently Lampitt (1985) discovered seasonal pulses of surface primary production-derived particulate organic matter (phytodetritus), and hence carbon, at abyssal depths. These early observations were subsequently extended to the central oceanic region of the NE Atlantic (Pfannkuche, 1993; Thiel et al., 1989), and prompted the establishment of more concerted time series studies in the Porcupine Abyssal Plain area. Today, the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Sustained Observatory (PAP–SO) is a multidisciplinary open-ocean time series site in the NE Atlantic (48°50′N 16°30′W, 4850 m water depth; Fig. 1), focused on the study of connections between the surface and deep ocean. In situ measurements of climatically and environmentally relevant variables have been made for more than 30 years. This represents an exceptionally long time series - a recent compilation of biological time series data, across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine realms, indicates an average duration of only 13-years (Dornelas et al., 2018). Long-term time series in the deep sea are rare, particularly those collecting data from surface to seabed. The PAP-SO is one of two abyssal long-term time series sites globally (Smith et al. 2015), the other being a thirty-year time series at Station M in the northeastern Pacific Ocean (34°50′N, 123°00′W, ~4000 m water depth), maintained by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (Smith et al., 2020). This ‘sibling’ abyssal time series site also aims to understand the connections between the surface ocean and the seabed, using many similar techniques (Smith et al., 2017), facilitating comparisons between the two sites (e.g. Durden et al., 2019; Durden et al., 2020a; Laguionie-Marchais et al., 2013; Smith et al., 2009). Another source of extended comparison is the 21 year time series Long-Term Ecological Research Observatory HAUSGARTEN, Frontiers in Arctic Marine Monitoring (FRAM) in the Fram Strait between the North Atlantic and the central Arctic Ocean (78.5°N–80°N, 05°W–11°E, 250–5500 m water depth), maintained by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (Soltwedel et al., 2016; Soltwedel et al., 2005). Much of our understanding of temporal variation in the deep sea, and connections between the surface ocean and the seabed have been derived from research conducted at these observatories

OOI Biogeochemical Sensor Data: Best Practices and User Guide. Version 1.0.0.

The OOI Biogeochemical Sensor Data Best Practices and User Guide is intended to provide current and prospective users of data generated by biogeochemical sensors deployed on the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) arrays with the information and guidance needed for them to ensure that the data is science-ready. This guide is aimed at researchers with an interest or some experience in ocean biogeochemical processes. We expect that users of this guide will have some background in oceanography, however we do not assume any prior experience working with biogeochemical sensors or their data. While initially envisioned as a “cookbook” for end users seeking to work with OOI biogeochemical (BGC) sensor data, our Working Group and Beta Testers realized that the processing required to meet the specific needs of all end users across a wide range of potential scientific applications and combinations of OOI BGC data from different sensors and platforms couldn’t be synthesized into a single “recipe”. We therefore provide here the background information and principles needed for the end user to successfully identify and understand all the available “ingredients” (data), the types of “cooking” (end user processing) that are recommended to prepare them, and a few sample “recipes” (worked examples) to support end users in developing their own “recipes” consistent with the best practices presented here. This is not intended to be an exhaustive guide to each of these sensors, but rather a synthesis of the key information to support OOI BGC sensor data users in preparing science-ready data products. In instances when more in-depth information might be helpful, references and links have been provided both within each chapter and in the Appendix

The association of mindful parenting with glycemic control and quality of life in adolescents with type 1 diabetes: results from Diabetes MILES-The Netherlands

The objective of this study was to examine associations between the mindful parenting style of parents of adolescents (aged 12-18) with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), and the glycaemic control and quality of life (QoL) of the adolescents. Chronic health conditions, such as T1DM, that require demanding treatment regimens, can negatively impact adolescents\u27 quality of life. Therefore, it is important to determine whether mindful parenting may have a positive impact in these adolescents. Age, sex and duration of T1DM were examined as potential moderators. Parents (N = 215) reported on their own mindful parenting style (IM-P-NL) and the adolescents\u27 glycaemic control. Parents and the adolescents with T1DM (N = 129) both reported on adolescents\u27 generic and diabetes-specific QoL (PedsQL™). The results showed that a more mindful parenting style was associated with more optimal hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) values for boys. For girls, a more mindful parenting style was associated with not having been hospitalized for ketoacidosis. For both boys and girls, a more mindful parenting style was associated with better generic and diabetes-specific proxy-reported QoL. In conclusion, mindful parenting style may be a factor in helping adolescents manage their T1DM. Mindful parenting intervention studies for parents of adolescents with T1DM are needed to examine the effects on adolescents\u27 glycaemic control and their quality of life