Vertical distribution of net zooplankton biomass at the time of winter vertical mixing in the open southern Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea)

The open southern Adriatic Sea with a maximum depth of 1242 m is one of the three sites of open deep-sea convection in the Mediterranean Sea. The effects of winter vertical mixing on zooplankton biomass were investigated in the open southern Adriatic Sea in February 2023. Samples were collected using Nansen nets (250 µm mesh size) in eight layers from 0 to 1200 m depth during day and night. The highest biomass values were sampled in the deeper layers below 300 m depth (twice as high as in the upper layers) both in the day and night samples. This could be related to vertical mixing in several pathways. This event was triggered by cold winter conditions and significant heat loss in the previous days, which together with the inflow of high salinity water from the eastern Mediterranean (38.96) caused strong vertical mixing down to 600 m depth. As a result of this event, relatively high chlorophyll-a concentrations (max. 0.33 mgm^-3) were measured down to 600 m depth. Therefore, due to the vertical mixing, deeper layers received more food than usual from the surface, so that more food was available for deep-sea zooplankton organisms and they did not have to migrate upwards. The effect of vertical mixing in winter was also clearly visible in some zooplankton organisms that cannot effectively resist the vertical currents, so that they also contribute to the increase in biomass at depth. This is confirmed by the backscattering strength (Sv) data, which show that convective mixing resulted in a smeared Sv signal, indicating that the plankton was transported to deeper layers and no migration took place.

Future studies should consider the influence of open-sea convective events on vertical carbon export in the oligotrophic southern Adriatic.