Summer 2025 Northeast Ecosystem Monitoring Survey Completed

Dates and Location

The summer Ecosystem Monitoring Survey sailed from July 31–August 15, 2025 aboard the NOAA Ship Pisces out of Newport, Rhode Island.

Survey Overview and Completion Rates

During the summer survey, scientists were able to sample 128 out of 130 planned stations, completing 98 percent of planned research activities. They dropped two stations to fix an equipment issue. The reduced number of days allocated for this survey resulted in sampling being dropped in the southern portion of the sample area. They sampled the majority of the stations in Georges’ Bank, the Gulf of Maine, and southern New England; they did not sample the Mid-Atlantic south of New Jersey. They targeted these regions to collect important hydrographic and plankton data.

Map of Survey Coverage

Core Sampling

Core sampling data from EcoMon Surveys help us understand changes in:

• Distribution and abundance of zooplankton and larval fish
• Water temperature
• Salinity
• Ocean Chemistry

Scientists conducted 118 bongo net tows during the summer survey to study the foundation of the marine food web—fish larvae, crab larvae, copepods, and small jellyfish. Scientists use the larval fish and egg samples to learn more about fish stock spawning and help estimate stock abundance. Seven of the stations where they collected plankton samples during the summer survey were within wind energy development areas. This will help scientists better understand how marine development affects plankton abundance.

The science team also collected physical oceanography data by deploying a conductivity, temperature, and depth instrument at 137 stations during the summer survey.

Ocean Chemistry

The science team collected water samples for carbon analysis at 29 stations during the summer survey to support ongoing research on marine carbon cycling and ocean acidification. They also collected pteropod (planktonic snail) samples at stations where they observed them in nets. They will use these samples to study the effects of ocean carbonate chemistry on shell-building organisms at the base of the food web, which help sustain fisheries.

Marine Mammal, Bird, and Sea Turtle Observations

Dedicated observers count and document marine mammals, turtles, and seabirds observed along the survey tracks. Their observations help better understand their migrations and how they find food and habitat on their journeys.

Trained observers spent 109 hours documenting marine mammal, seabird, and sea turtle sightings over 85 visual transects covering about 1,050 nautical miles. The most frequently counted sea birds were Great Shearwater, Wilson’s Storm-petrel, and Leach's Storm-petrel. The most abundant marine mammals counted were humpback whales, common dolphins, and fin whales.

Special Collections and Partners

The Ecosystem Monitoring Survey is collaborative. In addition to NOAA scientists, partners aboard the spring survey included scientists and/or scientific instruments from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of Rhode Island.

During the summer survey, three optical instruments counted phytoplankton over 2,507 nautical miles. Scientists from the University of Rhode Island and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution deployed Imaging FlowCytobots. Similar to automated underwater microscopes, these capture high-resolution images of phytoplankton and measure the chlorophyll fluorescence and light scattering associated with each image. The data they collect helps scientists study changes in phytoplankton communities over time.

University of Rhode Island scientists, with NASA funding, deployed a flow cytometer to study phytoplankton smaller than those measured by the Imaging Flowcytobot. They also deployed a radiometer to observe how phytoplankton change the optical properties of seawater. This information will help improve the use of satellite-based ocean color measurements to study phytoplankton from space.

University of Rhode Island scientists validated plankton measurements from the NASA Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem satellite. Once a day, when the satellite overpassed the Pisces, they deployed a radiometer at different depths and took water samples. They analyzed the water samples for plankton, particulate matter, and dissolved organic matter to characterize water coloration. The validation will make the satellite collected plankton distribution data more accurate. The project was funded by the National Science Foundation.

In addition, NOAA Teacher at Sea Dorothy Holley participated in the survey. She wrote eight blog posts about the survey and will bring what she learned back to her classroom in Benson, North Carolina.

The physical and chemical conditions that EcoMon measures help scientists understand:

• Ecosystem productivity
• Fish spawning
• Larval recruitment
• Species distribution

Survey Mission

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Ecosystem Monitoring Cruise, or EcoMon, helps understand and predict changes in the Northeast shelf ecosystem throughout the year. These changes influence the productivity of fisheries. EcoMon’s comprehensive shelf-wide ecosystem data (hydrography, ocean chemistry, plankton) and analyses support everything from fisheries stock assessments to research on the North Atlantic right whale.

EcoMon maintains a record of ocean measurements going back more than 40 years. The survey typically collects data in:

• Mid-Atlantic Bight
• Southern New England
• Georges Bank
• Gulf of Maine

Its ocean measurements help understand and predict changes in the shelf ecosystem that affect fisheries productivity and management.

Data Collection and Use

You can view the Ecosystem Monitoring Survey’s long term plankton abundance and distribution data, conductivity, temperature, and depth data, and ocean chemistry data.