Oceanography Branch Plankton Database

Shelf-wide Research Vessel Surveys are conducted 4-8 times per year over the continental shelf from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina to Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, using NOAA research ships or charter vessels. The Cape Hatteras to Cape Sable area is divided into four regions, and 30 randomly selected stations are targeted for sampling from each region.

The investigation utilizes shelf-wide research vessel surveys to gather data on planktonic organisms including zooplankton and ichtyoplankton. Environmental parameters are also collected but stored in different databases (e.g., OCDBS).

The investigation monitors the fishery-relevant components of the Northeast Shelf ecosystem, to characterize the baseline conditions and to determine the effects of biological and physical processes on the recruitment of Northeast shelf fishes.

Data from this program have supported numerous analyses documenting the seasonal and interannual variability in the distribution and abundance of the dominant zooplankton and ichthyoplankton on the northeast continental shelf. 

Zooplankton and ichthyoplankton are collected throughout the water column (to a maximum depth of 200 meters) using paired 61-cm Bongo samplers equipped with 333 micron mesh nets. Samples are preserved in formalin for subsequent laboratory analysis. Over 300 plankton taxa are sorted, identified and enumerated by staff at the Sea Fisheries Institute in Poland through a joint studies program. Efforts are underway to add plankton data from other gears (e.g., Tucker Trawl, MOCNESS).

The ftp site hosts an excel sheet with data as described in Kane (2005), but updated to the present. Changes or additional requests for data can be sent to Jon Hare (jon.hare@noaa.gov) and any updates will be available on the ftp

NEFSC Data Access Procedure:

1. Formal request in writing usually to the data owner/contact or Center Director;

2. Requester is contacted by data owner to review and verify the request content and details for data delivery options.

3. If data is confidential then owner will determine if the data may be released to the requester;

4. If data can be released, the data is downloaded and packaged for delivery electronically; or the requester may be directed to where the data is available online.

NEFSC Data Access Constraint:

If data is stored on an internal NEFSC network, the requester may not have direct access to query the data unless they are also authorized for network access.

none

Oracle 11g sole database

Described in document http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/publications/tm/pdfs/tmfnec21.pdf

Described in document http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/publications/tm/pdfs/tmfnec21.pdf

Operation data is screened electronically for position errors. Data for each operation is then reviewed manually and checked against paper operation logs. For plankton samples, 10% of each sample is re-sorted by a senior staff member. If >4% of total larvae or eggs are found, the entire sample is re-sorted. For identification QC/QA, focus is given to taxa which are known to be more difficult (e.g., scombrids).

To Be Determined; part of the dataset is currently archived at the The Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Archival of source data preserving unaltered collected data, Scheduled backups, Remote storage backups, Password protection

MARMAP PLANKTON SURVEY MANUAL - http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/publications/tm/pdfs/tmfnec21.pdf