Suspended Particulate Matter Investigations by the Optical Method in the Franz-Victoria Trough, the Barents Sea

Abstract

The article describes results of the suspended particulate matter during 80th cruise of the RV Akademik Mstislav Keldysh in the Franz-Victoria Through, northern Barents Sea. Two perpendicular transections were carried out by means of small-angle laser diffractometer LISST-Deep operating in the red range with a wavelength of 670 nm. Observed data consist 7 thousand volume concentration and particle size distributions (PSD) measurements. Weather conditions during expedition allowed to extend the transection to southern part of Nansen basin. The volume concentration of suspended matter varied up to 7.58 μl/l in the euphotic zone and layer and from 0.2 to 0.5 μl/l in the nepheloid layer. Paper demonstrates construction possibilities of the particle size distributions profiles by depth. Transection comparison with measurement results by the conductometric method on a Coulter Counter of the bathometric samples were carried out.