The Lofoten-Vesterålen Ocean observatory; Understanding behavioural response of benthic organisms from long-term multi-sensor data

The Lofoten-Versterålen (LoVe) Ocean Observatory is a cabled observatory on the Norwegian continental shelf providing long-term environmental data, including time-lapse imagery of a cold-water coral reef, from a multisensory stationary platform. The high temporal data resolution (frequency and duration) allows new insights into the behavioural responses of reef organisms to environmental variations and interactions between the water column and the seabed community.

The dominant current direction in the area is north-west, with the near seabed currents being most consistent (follows the topography).

Data analyses clearly indicate increase in polyp activity of Lophelia Pertusa correlates with the spring bloom. The polyp activity increases though the summer, when after the water-column stratification reduces the concentration of phytoplankton after the spring bloom. The reduced phytoplankton concentration and increasing polyp activity seems to correlate with a colour change in L pertusa, i.e. from white to pink and back to white again in the period April – end of November 2015. We preliminary results infer that zooplankton may represent an important food source for the cold-water corals in stratified summer conditions.