Office of Naval Research Aggregate Dynamics in the Sea Workshop Report. Held at Pacific Grove, California September 22-24, 1986.

摘要

Much of the suspended matter in the ocean exists as aggregates of organic detritus, living microorganisms and clay minerals. Historically, these aggregates have been categorized into the following two size classes: 1) marine snow, a general term describing amorphous suspended aggregates in the ocean larger than 500 um in size; and 2) microaggregates which range from a few microns up to 500 um in diameter. Both are primarily products of biological activity including mucus production, grazing, excretion, etc. In the open ocean, even those particles produced by physical/chemical coagulation processes (precipitation, particle collision, etc.) originate from largely biogenically derived component particles. Local loss terms include sinking, advection and decomposition which generally occur simultaneously with redistribution processes such as disaggregation, reingestion and defecation. Therefore, the dynamics of marine snow and microaggregates are functions of the actual aggregate properties, the biological processes and mechanisms which produce/redistribute them and physical/chemical process. Keywords: Military publications; Periodicals; Scientific literature; Reports. (eg)