Determination of Photosynthetic Pigments in Seawater

To critically evaluate the accuracy of historical data and of existing methods for the determination of photosynthetic pigments in seawater, including an appraisal of the SCOR/UNESCO spectrophotometric procedures published in 1966 and their intercalibration in the 1978 evaluation (UNESCO, 1980) for the determination of chlorophylls and their breakdown products in relation to novel chromatographic techniques.

To evaluate extraction conditions and storage requirements prior to analysis of individual component chlorophylls, their breakdown products and accessory pigments.

To evaluate and recommend the simplest high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) system for ship-board or field-based determination of chlorophylls a, b, c and their principal degradation products.

To provide advice on the establishment and provision of reference chloropigments, carotenoid and phycobiliprotein standards for calibration of HPLC-fluorescence or absorbance methods.

To evaluate procedures for the extraction and determination of phycobiliproteins, recently identified as important constituents of phytoplankton in marine water.

To relate and intercompare measurements of individual chlorophylls and their breakdown products to in situ fluorescence recordings and remotely sensed colour imagery.