Summary
Only half of the amount of stations that were planned to be sampled during the cruise were actually visited due to engine problems which caused cancellation of the remaining cruise. At Å17, the most westerly Skagerrak station and at Släggö at the coast, the phytoplankton diversity and chlorophyll concentrations were low, which is normal for this month.
The phytoplankton community was in its winter rest in the Baltic. The only exception was BY2 where total cell concentrations were slightly higher compared to the other stations. The diatom Dactyliosolen fragilissimus was common at BY2. Overall the samples consisted of small cells of different cryptomonads, pico cyanobacteria colonies and ciliates. The green algae Binuclearia lauterbornii was relatively abundant at the eastern and northern stations. The chlorophyll concentrations were overall low.