Studies in a large (30000 km2) sampling grid around Elephant Island, Antarctica, during January–March of four successive years (1990–1993) have shown that one of the water types within the sampling area (Drake Passage water) shows low chlorophyll a in surface waters and a subsurface maximum between 50 and 80 m depth. Ancillary data (beam attenuation, in situ chl a fluorescence) support the view that the extracted chl a values actually do represent increased phytoplankton biomass at depth; other data (oxygen concentrations and upwelling radiance at 683 nm) suggest that the phytoplankton within this subsurface maximum layer are photosynthetically active and do not represent a senescent, sinking population of cells. Such deep chl a maxima were found only in Drake Passage waters; in the other four water types sampled, chl a concentrations were maximal in surface waters and decreased with depth. Phytoplankton biomass and activity in Drake Passage waters is suggestive of a nutrient limitation for phytolankton growth in surface waters. Nutrient concentrations of N, P, and Si were high throughout the euphotic zone at all stations, and hence it is unlikely that any macronutrient would be limiting. The data presented in this paper support the hypothesis of Martin and colleagues that availability of Fe may limit phytoplankton biomass in pelagic Antarctic waters, but not in coastal waters where Fe concentrations are relatively high. All other reports on the effects of Fe on Antarctic phytoplankton have utilized deck incubations from which it is difficult to extrapolate such evidence of nutrient limitation to in situ conditions. Our data represent the first in situ evidence linking Fe limitation to the paradox of high macronutrient concentrations and low phytoplankton biomass in Antarctic pelagic waters.