Dataset: CPR external data links

Name: Data from the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey describing plankton and environmental data from 2012-2017 (CPR Plankton Survey project)
Published: 2016-04-04
Keywords: biota, oceans

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Cite This Dataset

Project:

The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey: Monitoring the Plankton of the North Atlantic (CPR Plankton Survey)

Principal Investigator:

Peter H. Wiebe (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI)

Scientist:

David Johns (Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science, SAHFOS)

Project Coordinator:

Martin Edwards (Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science, SAHFOS)

Data Manager:

Darren Stevens (Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science, SAHFOS)

BCO-DMO Data Manager:

Nancy Copley (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI BCO-DMO)

Version Date:

2016-04-04

Restricted:

Validated:

Current State:

Preliminary and in progress

Data from the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey describing plankton and environmental data from 2012-2017 (CPR Plankton Survey project)

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Description

Over the last 81years, the CPR analysis team has analyzed more than a quarter of a million samples from over 6.5 million miles of tows in the North Sea, Norwegian Sea, North and South Atlantic, North Pacific, and Indian Oceans. In 2015 (to mid-December), approx. 124,600 nautical miles were sampled with over 4000 samples for analysis. Samples were taken in the North Atlantic and North Sea, Pacific, and Southern Ocean.

SAHFOS can supply some descriptive data at little cost (usually free).

Spatial and temporal data are stored for every sample analysed by the CPR survey, since 1946. This amounts to almost 170000 samples, with around 200 more samples added per month. The presence of every planktonic entity identified on each sample is stored in the database, and there are almost 2 million plankton records in total. The database also contains supportive information such as tow locations, times and dates, ship details, a taxon catalogue and analyst details.

Over 400 entities have been identified on CPR samples, and the 'abundance' of each entity on each sample can be extracted from the database. Some plankton are identified to species level, some to genus level, and some at a higher taxonomic level. Some entities are groups of other entities. The complete Species List is kept in the database.

Data can be extracted from user defined areas, over specified periods, for selected entities. For example, all samples taken from the Dogger Bank area in the North Sea during March, April, and May since 1946 could be extracted from the database, and the 'abundance' of selected diatom species on each sample could be listed. Alternatively, an average value, number of samples, and standard deviation per year per month, could be retrieved. The data can be exported to statistical and presentation packages in many popular formats such as text, rich text, comma separated, MS Excel, MS Access, MS Word, Fox Pro, Dbase, Lotus and to SQL compliant databases. SAHFOS can supply some descriptive data at little cost (usually free). Example of data

If you would like to know more about CPR coverage of a particular location, contact the Data Manager - Darren Stevens or David Johnsat SAHFOS.

For information about methods and parameters, and link to DATA page: http://www.sahfos.ac.uk/cpr-data/database.aspx

More Information about this dataset

Funding Sources

Funding Source	Award Number
NSF Division of Ocean Sciences	OCE-1154661

Deployments

None available yet

Instruments

Continous Plankton Recorder

Supplied Name:

Supplied Description:

Instrument Type

Generic Name: Continous Plankton Recorder

Acronym: CPR

Generic Description:

The CPR is a plankton sampling instrument designed to be towed from merchant ships or ships of opportunity on their normal sailings. The CPR is towed at a depth of approximately 10 metres. Water passes through the CPR and plankton are filtered onto a slow-moving band of silk (270 micrometre mesh size) and covered by a second silk. The silks and plankton are then spooled into a storage tank containing formalin. On return to the laboratory, the silk is removed from the mechanism and divided into samples representing 10 nautical miles (19 km) of tow.

CPR samples are analyzed in two ways. Firstly, the Phytoplankton Color Index (PCI) is determined for each sample. The colour of the silk is evaluated against a standard colour chart and given a 'green-ness' value based on the visual discoloration of the CPR silk produced by green chlorophyll pigments; the PCI is a semiquantitative estimate of phytoplankton biomass. In this way the PCI takes into account the chloroplasts of broken cells and small phytoplankton which cannot be counted during the microscopic analysis stage. After determination of the PCI, microscopic analysis is undertaken for each sample, and individual phytoplankton and zooplanktontaxa are identified and counted.

Reid, P.C.; Colebrook, J.M.; Matthews, J.B.L.; Aiken, J.; et al. (2003). "The Continuous Plankton Recorder: concepts and history, from plankton indicator to undulating recorders".Progress in Oceanography 58(2-4): 117-175. doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2003.08.002.

Warner, A.J., and Hays, G.C.,; Hays, G (1994). "Sampling by the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey". Progress in Oceanography 34(2–3): 237–256. doi:10.1016/0079-6611(94)90011-6.

Parameters

Date and time formats are described in python strftime() syntax.

Supplied Name	Supplied description	Supplied Units	Standard Name
data_link	link to data access at external repository	unitless	external_link
link_description	description of repository: The Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science(SAHFOS); Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS); Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF); European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet)	unitless	brief_desc

Database

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Dataset: CPR external data links