Table of Contents

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

"As part of the U.S. GLOBEC Northwest Atlantic/Georges Bank program, moorings were deployed on Georges Bank as part of the broad-scale survey component to help measure the temporal variability of both physical and biological characteristics on the Bank. The array consisted of a primary mooring site on the Southern Flank which was maintained for the full 5-year duration of the field program, plus secondary moorings, with fewer sensors and of shorter duration, in the well-mixed water on the Crest and in the cod/haddock spawning region on the Northeast Peak. Temperature and conductivity (salinity) were measured at 5-m intervals, ADCP velocity profiles were obtained with 1-m vertical resolution, and bio-optical packages (measuring fluorescence, optical transmission and photosynthetically active radiation) were deployed at 10-m and 40-m depths. Bottom pressure was measured at the Southern Flank site. The buoy design, sensors and mooring configuration is presented and discussed below, and the data obtained is presented and discussed in an accompanying report "U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank Long-Term Moored Program: Data Report." (December 2005 WHOI-2005-11; " U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank Long-Term Moored Program: Part 1 - Mooring Configuration" by J.D. Irish, S. Kerry, P. Fucile, R.C. Beardsley, J. Lord, and Ken Brink.)

"Long-term moorings were deployed on Georges Bank from the fall of 1994 through the summer of 1999. The Southern Flank site was occupied all years, the Crest just the first and the Northeast Peak the second, fourth and fifth years. Not all depths were occupied by all sensors at all times." (DRAFT REPORT - 27 April 2005, WHOI-2005-XX, "U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank Long-Term Moored Program: Part 2 - Yearly Data Summary and Report" J.D. Irish, R.C. Beardsley, M. Caruso, R. Limeburner, and Ken Brink)

The ADCP pinged at as high a rate as possible with the power available in the ADCP with auxiliary battery pack - 900 pings at 4-second intervals so that the expected uncertainty in the velocity measurement was less that 0.5 cm/sec. The 1-hour (or sometimes 0.5 hour) averaged horizontal velocities were measured in 1-m vertical bins from about 8-m depth to about 10 m above bottom. The loss at the top was due to blanking to remove transducer ringing, and the loss at the bottom was due to sidelobe reflection from the direct downward path to the bottom. The amplitude of the backscattered signal was also recorded in the 1-meter bins and used to monitor the time and depth changes in backscattered signal (related to biological scatterers in the water column). The ADCP also "saw" the instrumentation along the mooring line as side-lobe reflection contamination of the records. This was not apparent in short records (1 week), but becomes obvious with 6-month long record averages. The amplitude of the backscattered signal has an increased level and the Doppler velocities decreased at the depths of the sensors. The decreased velocity estimate is because the signal reflected from the stationary sensors has zero Doppler shift and biases the velocity estimate toward zero. (December 2005 WHOI-2005-11; " U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank Long-Term Moored Program: Part 1 - Mooring Configuration" by J.D. Irish, S. Kerry, P. Fucile, R.C. Beardsley, J. Lord, and Ken Brink.)

The U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank Program is a large multi- disciplinary multi-year oceanographic effort. The proximate goal is to understand the population dynamics of key species on the Bank - Cod, Haddock, and two species of zooplankton (Calanus finmarchicus and Pseudocalanus) - in terms of their coupling to the physical environment and in terms of their predators and prey. The ultimate goal is to be able to predict changes in the distribution and abundance of these species as a result of changes in their physical and biotic environment as well as to anticipate how their populations might respond to climate change.

The effort is substantial, requiring broad-scale surveys of the entire Bank, and process studies which focus both on the links between the target species and their physical environment, and the determination of fundamental aspects of these species' life history (birth rates, growth rates, death rates, etc).

Equally important are the modelling efforts that are ongoing which seek to provide realistic predictions of the flow field and which utilize the life history information to produce an integrated view of the dynamics of the populations.

The U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank Executive Committee (EXCO) provides program leadership and effective communication with the funding agencies.

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).