Plankton sampling was conducted bi-monthly, monthly, or quarterly each year depending on the sampling program. Samples were collected both day and night on cruises using a 61-cm bongo net fitted with a 333-um mesh net. Oblique tows were a minimum of 5-minutes in duration, and fished from the surface to within 5-m of the seabed or to a maximum depth of 200-m. A mechanical flowmeter was fitted in the mouth of each net to record the volume sampled. Samples were preserved in 5% formalin.
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This dataset does not include the samples from the 20cm Bongo.
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It is requested that people use the following standard acknowledgement when publishing or presenting results that utilize NMFS data extracted from BCO-DMO:
\n\"This study utilized data collected by the NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center as part of an ongoing mission to monitor and assess the Northeast Continental Shelf ecosystem.\"\u00a0Source: NOAA NMFS NEFSC Oceanography Branch\"
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NOTE: Newest data, v3.1, (NMFS 3.1 - 2017-03-23) is not yet linked to the BCO-DMO mapping service.
Notes:
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\n- Values are the number of organisms beneath 10 m^2 of sea surface.
\n- Taxa were selected based on time series mean abundance > 100 per 100 m^3 and occurrence in greater than 5% of samples.
\n- Number of stations between the 100 m^3 and 10 m^2 datasets may be different because the number of larvae under 10 m^2 was not calculated at stations where the net was greater than 5-m off the bottom.
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Date: 26 January 2011:
\nAs of July 30, 2010 we have attempted to replace the taxonomic abbreviations with the actual names in the displayed data. The original abbreviations are shown below for historical purposes.
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List of taxonomic abbreviations and MARMAP codes:
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\nCOLUMN NAME\tTAXANOMIC NAME\t\tMARMAP TAXONOMIC CODE(S)\nctyp\t\tCentropages typicus\t103\ncalfin\t\tCalanus finmarchicus\t101\npseudo\t\tPseudocalanus spp.\t102 and 4128\npenilia\t\tPenilia avirostris\t611 and 613\ntlong\t\tTemora longicornis\t104\ncham\t\tCentropages hamatus\t109\nechino\t\tEchinodermata\t\t1500-1599\nappend\t\tAppendicularia\t\t700-799\npara\t\tParacalanus parvus\t135\ngas\t\tGastropoda\t\t300-399, 1100-1199, \n 3300-3399\nacarspp\t\tAcartia spp.\t\t4027\nmlucens\t\tMetridia lucens\t\t105\nevadnespp\tEvadne spp.\t\t605\nsalps\t\tSalpa\t\t\t3400-3499\noithspp\t\tOithona spp.\t\t138\ncirr\t\tCirripedia\t\t2100-2199\nchaeto\t\tChaetognatha\t\t200-299\nhyper\t\tHyperiidea\t\t400-499, 800-849, \n 4600-4699\ngam\t\tGammaridea\t\t870-899, 4400-4499\nevadnord\tEvadne nordmanni\t607\ncoe\t\tCoelenterata\t\t1200-1299, 1800-\n 1899, 2300-2399\ncalminor\tCalanus minor\t\t143\ncopepoda\tCopepoda\t\t100\nclauso\t\tClausocalanus arcuicornis\t157\ndec\t\tDecapoda\t\t500-599, 1000-\n 1099,3100-3299\neuph\t\tEuphausiacea\t\t2000-2099\nprot\t\tProtozoa\t\t3900-3999\nacarlong\tAcartia longiremis\t107\neuc\t\tEucalanus spp.\t\t180\npel\t\tPelecypoda\t\t1300-1399\npoly\t\tPolychaeta\t\t2500-2599\npodon\t\tPodon spp.\t\t601\nfish\t\tPisces\t\t\t3500\nbry\t\tBryozoa\t\t\t900-949\nfur\t\tClausocalanus furcatus \t4064\ncalspp\t\tCalanus spp.\t\t178\noncaea\t\tOncaea spp.\t\t191\ncory\t\tCorycaeidae\t\t4045\nost\t\tOstracoda\t\t3600-3699\ntstyl\t\tTemora stylifera\t153\noithspin\tOithona spinirostris\t114\nmysids\t\tMysidacea\t\t2800-2899\ntemspp\t\tTemora spp.\t\t4059\ntort\t\tTortanus discaudatus\t108\nparaspp\t\tParacalanus spp.\t4118\n
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NOAA/NMFS Data Use and Acknowledgement Policy:
\nThese data are provided by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center of the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service. A number of different vessels have been involved in sampling, and gear and methods have evolved over time. All of these factors affect sampling and the interpretation of data. The agency has developed correction factors to adjust for these changes and use other statistical tools for population estimates. The data we present here can be used as an index of abundance (over time or space) within a species or among species with similar vulnerability to the sampling gear. The data refer to a standard tow or sample and are not normalized to a unit area. Please refer to the detailed metadata for each dataset for more information, and to the data products for useful summaries of the data. Users are encouraged to contact the responsible agencies for guidance in using the data.
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It is not ethical to publish data without proper attribution or co-authorship. The data are the intellectual property of the collecting investigator(s).
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The intellectual investment and time committed to the collection of a data set\u00a0entitles\u00a0the investigator to the fundamental benefits of the data set. Publication of descriptive or interpretive results derived immediately and directly from the data is the privilege and responsibility of the investigators who collect the data.
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The purpose of a data archive is to facilitate collaboration between scientists, to allow the combination of multiple data sets for interdisciplinary and comparative studies, and the development and testing of new theories. The data managed by the Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO) are made available even though they may not be \"final\" (i.e.,\u00a0error free) data.
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Any person making substantial use of a data set must communicate with the investigators who acquired the data and/or the Data Management Office prior to publication and anticipate that the data collectors will be co-authors of published results. This extends to model results and to data organized for retrospective studies.
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The data available here are intended for scholarly use by the academic and scientific community, with the express understanding that any such use will properly acknowledge the originating investigator. Use or reproduction of any material herein for any commercial purpose is prohibited without prior written permission from the Data Management Office.
Plankton tows differ with respect to volume of water filtered and maximum tow depth. In order to make data values comparable, these values were normalized through the use of a standard haul factor. The two standard haul factors were: the number of organisms beneath 10 m^2 of sea surface (eq. 1) and the number per 100 m^3 of water sampled (eq. 2).
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Eq. 1: h = z * 10 / v
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where: z = maximum tow depth (in meters)
\nv = volume of water filtered (in meters cubed)
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Eq. 2: h = 100 / v where: v = volume of water filtered (in meters cubed)
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Sample sorting and identification of most samples was done at the Morski Instytut Rybacki in Szczecin, Poland. Samples were reduced to approximately 500 organisms by sub-sampling into aliquots with a modifed box splitter. Zooplankton were sorted, counted, and identifed to the lowest possible taxa. The number for each taxa identifed was multiplied by the number of aliquots to estimate total sample abundance; which then was multiplied by one of the standard haul factors.
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BCO-DMO Processing:
\n- reformatted date\u00a0 from dd-Mon-yy to yyyy-mm-dd
\n- added columns for year, month, day
\n- sorted all the data by year, then cruise_name, then station
\n- replaced taxon codes with taxon names
\n- replaced 97 NaN's in volume column with nd
\n-\u00a0transposed taxon columns to rows