Dataset: VPR_ashjian_orig_SO
Deployment: NBP0104

Video Plankton Recorder data from 2001, fall and winter.

Principal Investigator:

Carin J. Ashjian (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI)

BCO-DMO Data Manager:

Ms Dicky Allison (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI BCO-DMO)

Project:

GLOBEC: Winter Distribution and Success of Southern Ocean Krill (Southern Ocean Krill)

U.S. GLOBEC Southern Ocean (SOGLOBEC)

Deployment Synonyms:

GLOBECII

Coordinated Deployments:

LMG0106

Data URL:

https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset-deployment/451396/data

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Description

Video Plankton Recorder Data

BIOMAPERII is a towed package consisting of a number of independent observational components: a multi-frequency sonar (Acoustics) system, a video plankton recorder (VPR) system, and an environmental sensor system (ESS).

Companion object: biomaperII.
¹Wiebe, P.H., et al., 2002, BIOMAPER-II: An Integrated Instrument Platform for Coupled Biological and Physical Measurements in Coastal and Oceanic Regimes. IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, 27(3):700-716.

Methodology
Detailed discussion of the data and sampling methods used here can be found in C.J. Ashjian et al., 2008. Distribution of larval krill and zooplankton in association with hydrography in Marguerite Bay, Antarctic Peninsula, in austral fall and winter 2001 described using the Video Plankton Recorder. Deep- Sea Research II 55/3-4(2008), pp. 455-471.

Any questions, contact:
Carin Ashjian, Associate Scientist
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, MA 02543
voice: (508) 289-3457
fax: (508) 457-2169
e-mail: cashjian@whoi.edu

last updated 9 May 2011, njc

Methods & Sampling

Dataset acquisition description

These data are from images of plankton and particles collected using the Video Plankton Recorder (VPR), a camera system mounted on the BIO -Optical Multi-frequency Acoustical and Physical Environmental Recorder (BIOMAPER II)1 data acquisition system. BIOMAPERII is a towed package consisting of a number of independent observational components: a multi-frequency sonar (Acoustics) system, a video plankton recorder (VPR) system, and an environmental sensor system (ESS).

Deployment-specific acquisition description

Data Processing Description

Dataset Processing Description

Detailed discussion of the data and sampling methods used here can be found in C.J. Ashjian et al., 2008. Distribution of larval krill and zooplankton in association with hydrography in Marguerite Bay, Antarctic Peninsula, in austral fall and winter 2001 described using the Video Plankton Recorder. Deep- Sea Research II 55/3-4(2008), pp. 455-471.

Deployment-specific processing description

More information about this dataset deployment

Funding

Award Number	Funding Source
ANT-9910307	NSF Antarctic Sciences

Instruments

BIo-Optical Multi-frequency Acoustical and Physical Environmental Recorder II

Supplied Description:

Instrument Type

Generic Name: BIo-Optical Multi-frequency Acoustical and Physical Environmental Recorder II

Acronym: BIOMAPERII

Community Identifier: http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L22/current/NETT0007/

Generic Description:

BIOMAPER II is a set of sensors on a long aluminum frame that resembles the tail of a World War II airplane. A research vessel tows the instrument through the water on a specialized tow cable that sends power to the sensors and brings data back to the ship. People use BIOMAPER II to learn about phytoplankton and zooplankton over areas that are too large to study with the traditional net-and-microscope method. Whereas nets can sample areas up to about 5 meters (16 feet) on a side, BIOMAPER II can record data from 500 meters (1,640 feet) or more of the water column at a time. The instrument's standard suite of sensors were chosen for studying plankton: a five-frequency sonar system, a video plankton recorder and an environmental sensor system (ESS, like the one on MOCNESS). The ESS measures water temperature, salinity, oxygen, chlorophyll and light levels. BIOMAPER II also has room for attaching other instruments for specific uses. The instrument's official name is BIOMAPER-II: the BIo-Optical Multi-frequency Acoustical and Physical Environmental Recorder. The Roman numeral II indicates that it's a redesign of the original BIOMAPER, a prototype that was invented and tested in the mid 1990s. (more information).

Video Plankton Recorder

Supplied Description:

Instrument Type

Generic Name: Video Plankton Recorder

Acronym: VPR

Generic Description:

The Video Plankton Recorder (VPR) is a video-microscope system used for imaging plankton and other particulate matter in the size range from a few micrometers to several centimeters. The VPR is essentially an underwater microscope. It consists of four video cameras (with magnifying optics) synchronized at 60 fields per second (fps) to a red-filtered 80 W xenon strobe (pulse duration = 1 microsecond). The current lens on each camera can be adjusted to provide a field of view between 5 mm and 10 cm. Use of higher magnification lenses is currently being explored for viewing protozoans (less than 1 micrometer resolution). The four cameras are set for concentric viewing fields so that a range of up to four magnifications can be viewed simultaneously, allowing a wide size range of plankton to be sampled. Depth of field is adjusted by the lens aperture setting, and the volume sampled in each video field ranges from about 1 ml to 1 liter, depending on lens settings. The cameras have been configured for stereoscopic viewing as well.A strobe on the other arm illuminates the imaged volume and flashes 60 times per second, producing 60 images per second of the particles and plankton in the water. The images are then saved internally on a computer hard disk and later plotted.

Deployment: Most commonly, the VPR is mounted in a frame and lowered into the water from the stern of the ship. Sometimes, a CTD also is mounted next to the VPR to collect depth, temperature, and salinity information at the same time as each video image. The instrument is lowered down through the water to a maximum depth of 350 meters to generate a profile of plankton/particle abundance and taxon group along with temperature and salinity. In addition to the towed configuration for mapping plankton distributions, it is possible to deploy the VPR in a fixed position (on a mooring) for viewing plankton swimming behaviors in two or three dimensions. The VPR instrument system has been used in both configurations, and deployment on ROVs has been proposed.

This definition was taken from the WHOI Ocean Instruments Web site and from a US GLOBEC Newsletter.

Parameters

Supplied Name	Supplied description	Supplied Units	Standard Name
cruiseid	cruise identification		cruiseid
year	year, i.e. 2001, GMT		year
yrday0_gmt	Year day where Jan 1 = year day 0, GMT	YYY.Y	yrday0_gmt
month_gmt	month of year, GMT, i.e. 01-12		month_gmt
day_gmt	day of month, GMT, i.e. 01-31		day_gmt
time_gmt	time of day, GMT		time_gmt
lat	negative = South	decimal degrees	lat
lon	negative = West	decimal degrees	lon
press	depth of sample/data point, reported as pressure	decibars	press
potemp	potential temperature	degrees C	potemp
sal	salinity, PSS	dimensionless	sal
sigma_0	potential density (sigma theta)	kilograms/cubic meter	sigma_0
flvolts	fluorescence (volts 0-5)	volts	flvolt
trans_v	light transmission, reported as volts	volts	trans_v
depth_w	water depth in meters	meters	depth_w
copepods	number of copepods	number/Liter	no_bcodmo_term
larvaceans	number of larvaceans per liter	number/Liter	no_bcodmo_term
larval_euph	larval euphausiids	number/Liter	no_bcodmo_term
marine_snow	Particles of plankton	number/Liter	no_bcodmo_term
pteropods	number of pteropods per liter	number/Liter	no_bcodmo_term
radiolarians	number of radiolarians per liter	number/Liter	no_bcodmo_term
polychaetes	number of polychaetes per liter	number/Liter	no_bcodmo_term
diatoms	diatoms	number/Liter	no_bcodmo_term
algal_mat	algal mats	number/Liter	no_bcodmo_term

Database

Contribute Data

Dataset: VPR_ashjian_orig_SO
Deployment: NBP0104

Video Plankton Recorder Data

Dataset acquisition description

Deployment-specific acquisition description

Dataset Processing Description

Deployment-specific processing description

Database

Contribute Data

Dataset: VPR_ashjian_orig_SODeployment: NBP0104

Video Plankton Recorder Data

Dataset acquisition description

Deployment-specific acquisition description

Dataset Processing Description

Deployment-specific processing description

Dataset: VPR_ashjian_orig_SO
Deployment: NBP0104