Table of Contents

• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
• Data Files
• Parameters
• Instruments
• Deployments
• Project Information
• Program Information
• Funding

Zooplankton counts from net tows taken in conjunction with juvenile salmon studies in the Gulf of Alaska from 1997-2006 by the Southeast Coastal Monitoring Project. Measurements include settling volume, displacement volume, composition of taxa.

important links:
http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/ABL/MSI/msi_secm.htm

Also see related SECM datasets:
station data
nutrients
ctd
fish catch data
fish length and stomach contents

Surface (bucket) and 20-m (Niskin bottle) water samples were taken once at each station for later nutrient and chlorophyll analysis.

One shallow vertical haul (20-m) was made at each station (except three at ABM) with a 50-cm, 243-micron mesh NORPAC net. One deep vertical haul (to 200 m or within 10 m of bottom) was made at ABM and the Icy Point stations with a 57-cm, 202-micron mesh WP-2 net.

One double oblique bongo haul was made at stations along the Icy Strait and Lower Clarence Strait transects and at ABM to a depth of 200 m or within 20 m of the bottom, using a 60-cm diameter tandem frame with 505-micron and 333-micron mesh nets. A VEMCO ML-08-TDR time-depth recorder was used with the oblique bongo hauls to record the maximum sampling depth of each haul. General Oceanics model 2031 or Rigosha flow meters were placed inside the bongo and deep conical nets for calculation of filtered water volumes.

Zooplankton sampling: Zooplankton samples were concentrated and preserved in a 5% formalin-seawater solution. Zooplankton settled volumes (ZSV, ml) and total settled volumes (TSV, ml) of each 20-m vertical haul were measured after settling the samples for a 24-hr period in Imhof cones. Displacement volumes (DV, ml) of zooplankton were measured for bongo net samples (333-micron and 505-micron mesh). Samples were brought to a constant volume (500 ml) by adding water, and then were sieved through 243-micron mesh to separate the zooplankton from the liquid. The volume of decanted liquid was measured and subtracted from the sample starting volume to yield zooplankton DV.

Station Codes:

Detailed zooplankton species composition was determined microscopically from subsamples obtained using a Folsom or Motoda splitter. Density was then estimated by multiplying the count in the subsample by the split fraction and dividing the expanded count by the volume filtered. Percent total composition was summarized by major taxa for region, habitat, and month. Species were pooled into taxonomic groups including small calanoid copepods (< 2.5 mm TL), large calanoid copepods (> 2.5 mm TL), barnacle larvae, euphausiids (principally larval and juvenile stages), oikopleurans (Larvacea), decapod (crab) larvae, amphipods (hyperiid and gammarid), gastropods (primarily pteropods), chaetognaths, and combined minor taxa.

Use constraints: User must read and fully comprehend the metadata prior to use. User must acknowledge the Originator when using the data set as a source. User must share data products developed using the source data set with the Originator. Data should not be used beyond the limits fo the source scale.

01 Oct 2012 - BCO-DMO separated original 'taxon' column into taxon, species, stage, and common_name.

Program in a Nutshell

Goal: To understand the effects of climate variability and climate change on the distribution, abundance and production of marine animals (including commercially important living marine resources) in the eastern North Pacific. To embody this understanding in diagnostic and prognostic ecosystem models, capable of capturing the ecosystem response to major climatic fluctuations.

Approach: To study the effects of past and present climate variability on the population ecology and population dynamics of marine biota and living marine resources, and to use this information as a proxy for how the ecosystems of the eastern North Pacific may respond to future global climate change. The strong temporal variability in the physical and biological signals of the NEP will be used to examine the biophysical mechanisms through which zooplankton and salmon populations respond to physical forcing and biological interactions in the coastal regions of the two gyres. Annual and interannual variability will be studied directly through long-term observations and detailed process studies; variability at longer time scales will be examined through retrospective analysis of directly measured and proxy data. Coupled biophysical models of the ecosystems of these regions will be developed and tested using the process studies and data collected from the long-term observation programs, then further tested and improved by hindcasting selected retrospective data series.

U.S. GLOBEC (GLOBal ocean ECosystems dynamics) is a research program organized by oceanographers and fisheries scientists to address the question of how global climate change may affect the abundance and production of animals in the sea.

The U.S. GLOBEC Program currently had major research efforts underway in the Georges Bank / Northwest Atlantic Region, and the Northeast Pacific (with components in the California Current and in the Coastal Gulf of Alaska). U.S. GLOBEC was a major contributor to International GLOBEC efforts in the Southern Ocean and Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP).