PRODUCTION CHARACTERISTICS OF EPIPELAGIC COMMUNITIES IN THE WORLD OCEAN

Estimates of the production characteristics of planktonic communities in the upper 200 m layer df the World Ocean are based on the maps show ing the distribution of chlorophyll concentrations in the surface laye r of the ocean from the CZCS, NASA radiometer recordings and ecosystem observations made by a number of expeditions of the P.P. Shirshov Ins titute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences. Biomass and stock o f phyto- and bacterioplankton, protozoans, meso- and macroplankton wer e estimated for waters of different productivity determined by chloroh yll concentrations in the surface layer. The abundance of phytoplankto n was estimated at 306 mln t C, of mesoplankton at 311 min t C and of macroplankton at 40 mln t C. Comparison with earlier estimates was mad e. Estimates are also presented of the annual production of the above- mentioned planktonic groups and fluxes in different production and cli matic zones of the entire World Ocean.