Table of Contents

• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
• Data Files
• Parameters
• Instruments
• Deployments
• Project Information
• Program Information

Phytoplankton, HPLC, flow cytometry, and nutrient data were collected by SLOWDROP optical profilers, underway, and CTD's. SLOWDROP optical profilers provided high resolution vertical profiles of temperature, salinity, and density along with bio-optical properties. The underway component focused on the assessment of the spatial and temporal variability in phytoplankton biomass and physiology. Discrete samples for chlorophyll fluorometric determinations, pigment analyis, partical absorption, and nutrients were collected by CTD cast.

SLOWDROP optical profiling:
"We deployed a free-fall profiling system to provide high resolution vertical profiles of temperature, salinity, density (using Sea-Bird 911 CTD), along with bio-optical properties based on multi-wavelength absorption and attenuation (Wetlabs ac-9) as well as multi-wavelength fluorescence. These profiles were conducted as the optical drifters were recovered in order to provide water column assessments of the optical properties detected by the surface drifters. The optical instruments on the SLOWDROP profiler also provide calibration for the ac-9 and fluorometers used on the SeaSoar.

Underway optical properties:
The assessment of the spatial and temporal variability in phytoplankton biomass and physiology was achieved principally by gathering a continuous record of phytoplankton in vivo fluorescence, variable fluorescence, and water absorption and attenuation, using a 10-AU Turner Designs fluorometer, a Chelsea fast Repetition Rate fluorometer, and a Wetlabs ac-9 in a flow-through mode during SeaSoar survey periods.

CTDs:
In addition to the continuous records, discrete samples for chlorophyll fluorometric determinations, pigment analysis, particle absorption, and nutrients were collected every hour during the SeaSoar mesoscale survey (approximately every 10 nm) and every half hour during fine scale surveys. Samples for phytoplankton specific determination were collected at selected locations and preserved with formaldehyde."

(from W0005 cruise report. Other specific cruise-related acquisition information can be found with cruises W0008, T0205 and R0208)

For all parameters, 'nd' used for 'no data'.

Program in a Nutshell

Goal: To understand the effects of climate variability and climate change on the distribution, abundance and production of marine animals (including commercially important living marine resources) in the eastern North Pacific. To embody this understanding in diagnostic and prognostic ecosystem models, capable of capturing the ecosystem response to major climatic fluctuations.

Approach: To study the effects of past and present climate variability on the population ecology and population dynamics of marine biota and living marine resources, and to use this information as a proxy for how the ecosystems of the eastern North Pacific may respond to future global climate change. The strong temporal variability in the physical and biological signals of the NEP will be used to examine the biophysical mechanisms through which zooplankton and salmon populations respond to physical forcing and biological interactions in the coastal regions of the two gyres. Annual and interannual variability will be studied directly through long-term observations and detailed process studies; variability at longer time scales will be examined through retrospective analysis of directly measured and proxy data. Coupled biophysical models of the ecosystems of these regions will be developed and tested using the process studies and data collected from the long-term observation programs, then further tested and improved by hindcasting selected retrospective data series.

U.S. GLOBEC (GLOBal ocean ECosystems dynamics) is a research program organized by oceanographers and fisheries scientists to address the question of how global climate change may affect the abundance and production of animals in the sea.

The U.S. GLOBEC Program currently had major research efforts underway in the Georges Bank / Northwest Atlantic Region, and the Northeast Pacific (with components in the California Current and in the Coastal Gulf of Alaska). U.S. GLOBEC was a major contributor to International GLOBEC efforts in the Southern Ocean and Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP).