Table of Contents

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

This dataset contains particulate and dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen data from the GLOBEC Northeast Pacific (NEP) Long-Term Observation Program (LTOP) cruises from 1997 to 2004. The nutrient and extracted chlorophyll data that correspond to this dataset can be also be found in the BCO-DMO database.

For further hydrographic information from all cruises, see cruise reports provided on the Northeast Pacific Long Term Observation Program website, or contact Dr. A Huyer at Oregon State University, COAS,104 COAS Admin. Bldg., Corvallis, OR, 97331-5503. All particulate and dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen data in this dataset include cruise station numbers to allow comparison with the hydrographic information found in other data reports.

At each station, water samples were collected from various depths with 5 L Niskin bottles on a 12 bottle rosette. Complete information on sample collection and analyses is available in the Data Report (PDF).

Complete analyses information is available in the Data Report (PDF).

Data are presented as depth profiles for each station along latitudinal lines. Lines are listed by decreasing latitude and stations are listed from inshore to offshore. Cruise ID and station numbers are included for reference to other cruise data. GMT date and GMT time indicate the date/time at the start of the CTD cast. Depth (pressure in dbar), temperature (°C), and salinity are also included as measured by CTD when Niskin bottles were fired (upcast). Units for POC, PON, DOC and DON are all μM.

BCO-DMO received the data in 8 Excel files, one for each year of sampling. The following modifications were made: deleted blank rows; replaced blank cells with 'nd'; changed column names to conform to BCO-DMO convention; converted .XLS files to .DAT; original time in HH:MM format and date in mm/dd/YYYY format were removed from display; added day_gmt, month_gmt, and time_gmt columns, which are calculated from the original date and time columns.  The 2004 Wecoma cruise ID was corrected from 'W0409' to 'W0408D' and the Data Report was updated in June 2012 to reflect the change.

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).