Time-Series Analysis from the Sargasso Sea (iAtlantic Study Region 5) – BATS Dataset

A main objective of the iAtlantic project is to assess the stability and vulnerability of deep and open-ocean Atlantic ecosystems as well as to test for the presence of tipping points in response to environmental change. This requires the statistical analysis of complex time-series data. Situated within the Sargasso Sea, the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) station has become a key ocean observatory. Located 85 km to the southeast of Bermuda, in waters reaching 4,500m depth, it has been sampled monthly since October 1988. Chosen to represent the North Atlantic subtropical gyre, BATS main objective is to improve our understanding of biogeochemical cycling in the North Atlantic. The BATS datasets are constituted by hydrographic, nutrients, particle flux, pigments, primary production as well as bacterioplankton abundance and production measurements. Within iAtlantic, the BATS datasets offer a unique opportunity to assess temporal changes to the ocean carbon cycle. The BATS datasets will therefore be analysed within work package 3 as part of study region. This short presentation will therefore provide an introduction to the data collected at BATS and discuss which statistical analysis will be applied to the datasets. Results from the analysis are not yet available and suggestions or comments on the analysis discussed are hence most welcome.