PROCESSES OF PRIMARY PRODUCTION IN THE 

 WATER OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS 



Dr. J. S. Bunt, Dr. C. C. Lee, and Dr. M. A. Heeb 



School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences 



University of Miami 



ABSTRACT 



Between August 8 and August 12, 1970, twenty stations were 

 occupied in the waters around St. Croix and between St. 

 Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. 

 At each station, STD runs were made by the staff of the 

 Cape Fear Technical Institute. In addition, surface phyto- 

 plankton material was recovered by hand hauled surface tows 

 for use in studies of the relations between photosynthesis 

 and respiration by mass spectrometry. Mass spectrometer 

 runs were made successfully at seventeen stations. This 

 is the first time that this technique has been used at sea 

 in this application and has proven the feasibility of its 

 use to measure oxygen production and consumption independently 

 and directly during illumination. 



An account of this work, augmented with data collected subse- 

 quently, is being prepared for publication. We believe it is 

 of special interest partly because our data demonstrates how 

 the component of photosynthetic 0„ production can be detected 



when net exchange shows heavy 0„ consumption. 



VII-46 



