Oceanographic Monitoring in Cook Inlet and Kachemak Bay, Zooplankton Data, 2012-2016, Gulf Watch Alaska Environmental Drivers Component

• Main Author: Angela Doroff
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Research Workspace
• Subjects: EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS > PLANKTON > ZOOPLANKTON; Copepods; oceanic zooplankton; lower Cook Inlet; Kachemak Bay; Prince William Sound; Exxon Valdez; oil spill; Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council; EVOSTC; oceanography; marine plankton; long-term monitoring; EVOS Gulf Watch; OCEAN > PACIFIC OCEAN > NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN > GULF OF ALASKA; CONTINENT > NORTH AMERICA > UNITED STATES OF AMERICA > ALASKA; Gulf of Alaska; Pacific; Kachemak; Alaska
• Online Access: https://search.dataone.org/view/10.24431_rw1k21g_20230117T025046Z

These data are part of the Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA), Environmental Drivers component of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, project numbers 12120114-G, 13120114-G, 14120114-G, and 16120114-G. Gulf Watch Alaska is the long-term ecosystem monitoring program of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council for the marine ecosystem affected by the 1989 oil spill. This dataset is two comma-separated values (csv) files containing zooplankton counts by species from samples collected during Lower Cook Inlet oceanographic surveys. One data file (named KBay Zooplankton Masterfile_24Oct17_RawData.csv contains the raw zooplankton counts, whereas the other file (named KBay Zooplankton Masterfile_24Oct17_ProcessedData.csv) contains the final processed counts to the lowest possible taxon. Zooplankton samples were collected during 2012-2016 as part of a long-term oceanographic monitoring project in Kachemak Bay and lower Cook Inlet . Zooplankton were collected quarterly in lower Cook Inlet and outer Kachemak Bay and monthly in Kachemak Bay with a bongo style zooplankton net: 60 cm mouth diameter/333 μm mesh (Aquatic Research Instruments, Hope, ID). To calculate sample volume, a mechanical flow meter (General Oceanics) was attached to one side of the bongo frame; zooplankton were sampled from the net with no flow meter attached. At each station, 50 m vertical tows were conducted at a tow rate of approximately 0.5 m/s with an average of 14.15 m3 sampled. Preserved samples were identified and enumerated to lowest taxonomic classification possible by the Prince William Sound Science Center located in Cordova, Alaska.