Near-bottom particle concentration and flux: Temporal variations observed with sediment traps and nepholometer on the Meriadzek Terrace, Bay of Biscay

The Meriadzek Terrace (a 2100m deep plateau on the North-East Atlantic continental slope) was chosen as the experimental site for a multidisciplinary programme to observe the parameters needed for a better understanding of biological processes in the benthic environment.Two approaches were used to study the input of particulate matter to the bathyal seabed: sediment traps and indirect particle concentration measurements with nephelometry. These two technologies do not measure particles of the same size range, but as we are interested in the fluctuations of the particle supply, their results are complementary.Vertical profiles of nephelometry show that over the Meriadzek Terrace there is 125m thick nepheloid layer immediately above the bottom.The dynamics in the deep layer has been determined by measurements made with a Module Autonome Pluridisciplinaire (MAP), an in situ monitoring device developed at IFREMER which measures currents, nephelometry, temperature vertical profile near the bottom.Throughout six months of measurements in 1984, the currents at 0.5m and 120m above the bottom were subject to semi-diurnal tidal oscillations. The intensity of light scattering recorded with the nephelometer on the MAP was highly correlated with current velocities especially with semidiurnal tidal oscillations which seem to induce local resuspension. There are also longer term fluctuations, notably a very strong event which lasted several days during August. This event lagged behind a period of high intensity of internal waves correlated with a reversal in current direction. The sediment trap (Pièges à Particules “PAP”) observations showed that the particle fluxes on the Meriadzek Terrace have a cycle of variation similar to primary production which is characterized by a maximum in May during the phytoplankton bloom and a minimum during January. There was also interannual fluctuation.These two kinds of results point out the different time scales (from some hours to several months) of the large temporal fluctuations which affect the near-bottom particle behaviour.