Bioluminescence in a complex coastal environment: 1. Temporal dynamics of nighttime water‐leaving radiance

Abstract

[1] Nighttime water-leaving radiance is a function of the depth-dependent distribution of both the in situ bioluminescence emissions and the absorption and scattering properties of the water. The vertical distributions of these parameters were used as inputs for a modified one-dimensional radiative transfer model to solve for spectral bioluminescence waterleaving radiance from prescribed depths of the water column. Variation in the waterleaving radiance was consistent with local episodic physical forcing events, with tidal forcing, terrestrial runoff, particulate accumulation, and biological responses influencing the shorter timescale dynamics. There was a >90 nm shift in the peak water-leaving radiance from blue ($474 nm) to green as light propagated to the surface. In addition to clues in ecosystem responses to physical forcing, the temporal dynamics in intensity and spectral quality of water-leaving radiance provide suitable ranges for assessing detection. This may provide the information needed to estimate the depth of internal light sources in the ocean, which is discussed in part 2 of this paper.

Theoretical Study of Dinoflagellate Bioluminescence

“…Ecological studies have shown that bioluminescent intensity in surface waters can act as a sensitive indicator for toxicity in the marine environment . Furthermore, as a function of mechanical stimulation, the emitted light could potentially be used to locate and track surface and subsurface disturbances like sailors, swimmers and even military targets . The bioluminescent system of most photosynthetic dinoflagellates, except Pyrocystis , is comprised of luciferin ( LH 2 ), luciferase ( LCF ) and luciferin‐binding protein ( LBP ) .…”

Bioluminescence in a complex coastal environment: 2. Prediction of bioluminescent source depth from spectral water‐leaving radiance

“…In 2000, the profiler was deployed for ∼15 days logging 339 nighttime profiles while in 2001, it was deployed for ∼8 days logging 132 nighttime profiles. For a detailed description of the instruments profilers and the natural distributions of the data collected, see the methods section and Figures 4 and 5 in part 1 [ Moline et al , 2007] of this paper.…”

“…This layering approach decomposed each bioluminescence profile into thirteen, 1 m sections and allowed for the calculation of surface BL w of the entire water column if only discrete portions of the water column were emitting bioluminescent light. In part 1 of this paper [ Moline et al , 2007], it was clear that the deeper the internal light source, the more red‐shifted its spectra (Figure 1). Therefore, in this analysis, we focused on the spectral shape of BL w as a predictor of the depth of the bioluminescent source.…”

“…We develop and test a neural network model that predicts the depth of a bioluminescent light source on the basis of the spectral characteristics of BL w . We do this using the natural distribution of bioluminescence measured in the New Jersey coastal environment described in part 1 of this paper [ Moline et al , 2007]. Our primary approach is to use the measured bioluminescent distribution and IOPs to calculate BL w using a radiative transfer model.…”

Microalgae: Current Research and Applications

“…Specifically, it can be used to assess and monitor the structure and variability of marine ecosystems over a range of spatial and temporal scales (Kushnir et al, 1997). The spatial heterogeneity of bioluminescence can also be related to fronts, eddies and current meanders and consequently can be used to indicate the distribution of plankton biomass in relation to physical processes (Herring & Widder, 2001;Moline et al, 2007). Previous studies have used horizontal and vertical profiles of bioluminescence to identify internal wave motions (Kushnir et al, 1997), assess the small scale structure of plankton patchiness (Tokarev et al, 1998(Tokarev et al, , 1999b) and the physiological state of planktonic ecosystems (Tokarev et al, 1999a).…”