Diel oxygen production and uptake by Posidonia oceanica meadows at Elba, Italy

Aquatic eddy covariance oxygen flux was determined over two seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) meadows at Elba, Italy. The first meadow (open-water) was located 300 m from the southwest corner of the island, and was studied over two continuous days from 15 to 18 May 2016. The second meadow (nearshore) was located 60 m from the north shore of the island, and was studied over two discontinuous days on 13 and 25 May 2017. Both meadows were located at 13 m depth. Eddy covaraince instruments were mounted to a lightweight frame and positioned over seagrass meadows such that the measurement volume was approximately 0.3 m above the top of the canopy. Eddy covariance velocity data were collected at 16 Hz with an acoustic Doppler velocimeter (Vector, Nortek-AS, Norway). Measurements of turbulent fluctuations in oxygen concentration were made 2 cm outside the measuring volume of the Vector using an optode minisensor (O2 Minisensor, Pyroscience GmbH, Germany). The 90% response time of the minisensor was less than 0.3 s. Stable oxygen measurements above and within the canopy were determined with galvanic oxygen sensors (OxyGuard, RBR Ltd., Canada). Eddy covariance fluxes were calculated from the product of turbulent fluctuations in vertical water velocity and oxygen concentration according to standard techniques (see Berg et al., 2003 for details on the aquatic eddy covariance technique, doi:10.3354/meps261075). Further details on calculations of flux, and their correction for the nighttime depletion of oxygen within the seagrass canopy, are presented in the linked manuscript (Koopmans et al., 2020, doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.00118)