Oceanographic Monitoring in Cook Inlet and Kachemak Bay, Zooplankton Data, 2012-2019, Gulf Watch Alaska Environmental Drivers Component

• Main Authors: Kris Holderied, Caitlin McKinstry, James Schloemer
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Research Workspace
• Subjects: In Situ/Laboratory Instruments > Samplers > Trawls/Nets > PLANKTON NETS; EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > MARINE ENVIRONMENT MONITORING; EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS; EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES > ARTHROPODS > CRUSTACEANS > COPEPODS; EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS > PLANKTON > ZOOPLANKTON; oceanic zooplankton; Gulf Watch Alaska; EVOSTC; Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council; Oil Spill; Exxon Valdez; Kachemak Bay; Lower Cook Inlet; zooplankton; oceanography; marine plankton; long-term monitoring; CONTINENT > NORTH AMERICA > UNITED STATES OF AMERICA > ALASKA; OCEAN > PACIFIC OCEAN > NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN > GULF OF ALASKA; Gulf of Alaska; Pacific; Kachemak; Alaska; Copepods
• Online Access: https://search.dataone.org/view/10.24431_rw1k21g_20230307T214302Z

These data are part of the Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA), Environmental Drivers component, which 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' Raw') contains the raw zooplankton counts, whereas the file named 'Processed' contains the final processed counts to the lowest possible taxon. Zooplankton samples were collected during 2012-2019 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.