Joint NAM S&T Centre - ZMT Bremen Fellowship, 2008
in Tropical Coastal Marine Ecology and Biogeochemistry
 

Project Completion Report of Ms. Lata Gawade, National Institute of Oceanography, RC, Visakhapatnam, India

Ms. Lata Gawade, Junior Technical Assistant in the National Institute of Oceanography, Regional Centre, Visakhapatnam, India, was affiliated with the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT), Bremen, Germany from 1st February to 30th April 2009 under the Joint NAM S&T Centre - ZMT Bremen Fellowship scheme for the year 2009. She worked under the supervision of Dr. Ruben Lara on the topic: 'What are the different molecular weight fractions of DOC in the coastal region?' Using various research techniques, including mass spectrometer, elemental analyzers, spectrophotometer and DOC analyzer, she analyzed the marine water samples for the suspended particulate organic matter (SPOM), particulate organic carbon (POC), particulate organic nitrogen (PON), and δ¹³Carbon isotope to know the distribution and sources of organic matter in the water column of the western Bay of Bengal. The spectrophotometric method was standardized for the measurement of chitin content in the suspended matter of water column. Water samples for SPOM analysis were collected at 10 different depths i.e. 0, 5, 10, 20,30,50,75,100,150 and 200 m using 10 liters niskin bottles. Salinity and temperature for water column was measured by using CTD (seabird). Carbon and Nitrogen contents were determined with a CN analyzer (N A 2100, CE Instruments). δ¹³Carbon isotope fraction in the CO₂ produced was measured with a delta plus MAT 253 mass spectrometer coupled with EA Flash 1112 series connected via conflo 11(Thermofinnigan) and the results expressed as per mil (‰) deviations from the δ¹³C/δ¹²C ratio of the international standard for soil calibration for CHNS (USA). It was concluded from these studies that C:N ratio and isotopic δ¹³C fraction indicated a huge terregenous input in the study area of Bay of Bengal, as the δ¹³Corg values were between -24 to -28 ‰. δ¹³Corg values of the deep water column (1000m) POM samples showed the high impact of sinking flux as the δ¹³Corg were between -26 to -28 ‰ almost similar to the upper water column.