Charlotte Smith

I am currently undertaking a NERC funded PhD in the Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences department at the University of Liverpool. My PhD is part of the NERC funded RidgeMix project that is investigating nutrient and carbon pumps over mid-ocean ridges. It is proposed that turbulent mixing above the Mid-Atlantic Ridge may enhance the vertical supply of inorganic nutrients to the sunlit surface waters and account for the currently unbalanced nutrient budget in this region (the Subtropical North Atlantic).

The primary focus of my PhD is to see whether the proposed enhanced nutrient flux impacts local primary production, community structure, zooplankton grazing and particle export and so influence the strength of the biological carbon pump. I will participate in research cruises to the Mid Atlantic Ocean on the RRS James Clarke Ross during 2015 and 2016. During these cruises I will test these hypotheses through investigating the biomass, cell size and the community structure of the phytoplankton assemblages present and by assessing particle quality, zooplankton grazing rates and the fate of particulate matter through analysis of elemental and biomarker composition. Until these cruises I shall compare, using elemental and biomarker composition, the particulate material collected by two different collection techniques: the Marine Snow catcher and Stand-Alone pumps (SAPS) from Celtic Sea samples.