Georges Bank Plankton

A short-term time series of plankton at multiple depths for Georges Bank. Data are available at OBIS. The OBIS compiled data includes species name, individual count, lat/lon, and some environmental correlates like depth and salinity. 

Dataset Location: OBIS Georges Bank Plankton; Companion Length Data

Direct Download: OBIS Georges Bank Plankton

Site Location: Georges Bank, Northeast US coast

Site(s) Georeferenced: Yes

Timespan: 1995 - 1999

Sampling Frequency: monthly (Jan-June); total 30 cruises

Data Collection Summary / Methods: Plankton tows were made using a MOCNESS 10 system with 5-6 (10 m^2) nets having 3.00-mm circular mesh. Nets are opened and closed sequentially by commands through conducting cable from the surface.

Data collected: species id, abundance, length

OBIS data schema: species name, individual count, date, location, temperature, depth, salinity, nitrogen, oxygen, silicate.

Known Issues: The catch from each net was sub-sampled and all animals in the sub-sample were counted. (2) Due to the shear volume of data, only those animals found were represented in these on-line data, i.e. no animals with zero abundance were listed. Not all nets for all tows are represented here. Some nets came back empty.

Best Practices: tips for separating the wheat from the chaff
 
Conditions for use: 'freely available' and 'open-access' as per OBIS: http://iobis.org/about/vision

Citation/ Distributing Authors: Madin, L. and E. Horgan. Zooplankton Sampled with 10m2MOCNESS Net in Georges Bank 1995-1999. March 10, 2006. U.S. GLOBEC JGOFS/GLOBEC Data Server. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA: U.S. GLOBEC Data Management Office.Retrieved from http://www.usgs.gov/obis-usa/.

Supplemental resources:

MOCNESS Net description - http://www.whoi.edu/instruments/viewInstrument.do?id=10008; http://www.gma.org/onlocation/mocness.html

OBIS USA - http://www.usgs.gov/obis-usa/

Available via the EcoData Retriever: No