Inaugural lecture: Resolving plankton and particle dynamics at local to global scales via pelagic imaging

by Rainer Kiko (Plankton biogeochemistry and dynamics)

Thursday Jan 23, 2025, 10:00 AM → 11:30 AM Europe/Berlin

8A-002 - Hörsaal Ostufer / Lecture Hall East (GEOMAR - Standort Ostufer / GEOMAR - East Shore)

Abstract

How is plankton distributed in the oceans? What factors are important for its growth and proliferation? Victor Hensen, Kiel professor from 1864 to 1911, was one of the first to ask such questions and coined the term plankton to characterise all the fascinating micrometer- to meter-sized organisms that drift in the oceans. He started quantitative plankton assessments and organized the first plankton expedition that covered large parts of the Atlantic Ocean. Nowadays we very well appreciate the important role plankton plays for climate regulation, oxygen production and food provisioning. However, only recent technological development in pelagic imaging - the imaging of all kinds of particles in the water column - enable us to assess plankton and particles at high enough temporal and spatial resolution to obtain a synoptic view of their distribution.

In my group, and in collaboration with many international colleagues, we use pelagic imaging techniques that integrate different camera and environmental sensor systems with state-of-theart artificial intelligence solutions for efficient data collection. These innovations pave the road towards operational pelagic imaging, urgently needed to monitor the state of marine ecosystems in times of global change.

Within this lecture, I will outline the objectives of our work at GEOMAR and will explain how we can convert image data into process understanding. I will showcase how pelagic imaging enabled us to (I) observe marine snowfall along the equator, (II) detect a ubiquitous intermediate particle maximum in large parts of the ocean, and (III) facilitate global assessments of plankton and particle distributions in relatively short time spans.