Program: Oceanic Flux Program

(Adapted from the NSF Project Summary)

Since 1978, the Oceanic Flux Program (OFP), originally founded and managed by at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and now managed by the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Science (BIOS), has continuously measured particle fluxes in the deep Sargasso Sea. The 35+ year OFP time-series is, by far, the longest of its kind and unique in its focus on the deep ocean. OFP has produced a unique, albeit "edited", record of temporal variability in the "biological pump", a term loosely applied here to material transfer from the surface to the deep ocean. The OFP provided the first direct evidence for seasonality in the deep ocean and the tight coupling between deep fluxes and upper ocean processes. It has provided clear evidence of the intensity of biological reprocessing of flux and scavenging of suspended material in mesopelagic waters. The record has documented interannual and longer variations in deep fluxes and shorter term fluctuations driven by the interactions between mesoscale physical variability, meteorological forcing and ecosystem responses.