Abstract. This paper presents new results from high temporal resolution observations over two years (2007 and 2008) from instrumented moorings deployed in the central North Sea, at the Oyster Grounds and on the northern slope of Dogger Bank (North Dogger). The water column was stratified in the summer at both sites, leading to limited exchange of the water in the bottom mixed layer. Data from these moorings revealed the variable nature of summer oxygen depletion at the Oyster Grounds. The combination of in situ and ship-based measurements allowed the physical and biological conditions leading to decreasing dissolved oxygen concentrations in bottom water to be examined. In 2007 and 2008, the concentration of dissolved oxygen in the bottom water at both sites was observed to decrease throughout the summer period after the onset of stratification. Depleted dissolved oxygen concentration (6.5 mg l −1 , 71% saturation) was measured at the North Dogger, a site which is not significantly influenced by anthropogenic nutrient inputs. Lower oxygen saturation (5.2 mg l −1 , 60% saturation) was measured for short durations at the Oyster Grounds. The seasonal increase in bottom water temperature accounted for 55% of the decrease in dissolved oxygen concentration at the Oyster Grounds compared to 10% at North Dogger.Dissolved oxygen concentration in bottom water at the Oyster Grounds was shown to be strongly influenced by short term events including storms and pulses of particulate organic matter input. In contrast, dissolved oxygen concentration in bottom water at the North Dogger reflected longer seaCorrespondence to: N. Greenwood (naomi.greenwood@cefas.co.uk) sonal processes such as a gradual temperature increase over the summer and a more steady supply of particulate organic matter to the bottom mixed layer. The differences between the study sites shows the need for an improved understanding of the mechanisms driving these processes if the use of oxygen in marine management and ensuring ecosystem health is to be meaningful and successful in the future. These high frequency observations provide greater understanding of the nature of the depletion in bottom oxygen concentration in the North Sea.

Although the terms 'health' and 'healthy' are often applied to marine ecosystems and communicate information about holistic condition (e.g. as required by the Ecosystem Approach), their meaning is unclear. Ecosystems have been understood in various ways, from non-interacting populations of species to complex integrated systems. Health has been seen as a metaphor, an indicator that aggregates over system components, or a non-localized emergent system property. After a review, we define good ecosystem health as: 'the condition of a system that is self-maintaining, vigorous, resilient to externally imposed pressures, and able to sustain services to humans. It contains healthy organisms and populations, and adequate functional diversity and functional response diversity. All expected trophic levels are present and well interconnected, and there is good spatial connectivity amongst subsystems.' We equate this condition with good ecological or environmental status, e.g. as referred to by recent EU Directives. Resilience is central to health, but difficult to measure directly. Ecosystems under anthropogenic pressure are at risk of losing resilience, and thus of suffering regime shifts and loss of services. For monitoring whole ecosystems, we propose an approach based on 'trajectories in ecosystem state space', illustrated with time-series from the northwestern North Sea. Change is visualized as Euclidian distance from an arbitrary reference state. Variability about a trend in distance is used as a proxy for inverse resilience. We identify the need for institutional support for long time-series to underpin this approach, and for research to establish state space co-ordinates for systems in good health.

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Nitogen uptake experiments in surface waters off the coast between Cape Ann and Mawson indicate that reduced nitrogen (ammonium and urea) supplied an average of 58% of phytoplankton requirements. Size‐fractionation studies provided evidence for nitrogen resource partitioning between the algae of different size classes at three of the five stations. On average, regenerated production amounted to 62% for the nanoplankton and 75% for the picoplankton.

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