Physics and microbial ecology of a buoyant estuarine plume on the continental shelf

Abstract

The MECCAS (Microbial Exchanges and Coupling in Coastal Atlantic Systems) Project was initiated in 1984 with support from the National Science Foundation to study the flow regime of buoyant plumes and the microbial ecology of pelagic communities that characterize these plumes. The project is interdisciplinary, with physical, chemical, and biological components (Table 1). Our goal is to determine how physical and biological processes influence the production and cycling o f carbon and nitrogen o n time and space scales that characterize the physics of plumes and the growth of microbial populations within plumes.