Oceanographic monitoring in Cook Inlet and kachemak Bay: CTD data (2012-2014)

• Main Authors: Angela Doroff, Kris Holderied
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Gulf of Alaska Data Portal
• Subjects: EVOSTC; Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council; EVOS Gulf Watch Projects; Oil Spill; Alaska; Exxon Valdez; Environmental Drivers; Ocean and Atmosphere; oceanography; conductivity; temperature; pressure; CTD; salinity; Sea-Bird Electronics; Gulf of Alaska; Anchor Point; Flat Island; Kachemak
• Online Access: https://search.dataone.org/view/df35b.223.1

These data are part of a four piece oceanographic sampling effort in lower Cook Inlet and Kachemak Bay. Oceanographic monitoring includes monthly and quarterly shipboard CTD and plankton sampling, conducted at stations along transect lines across the entrance of Cook Inlet and northwest from Anchor Point. A third line from Augustine Volcano to Flat Island is sampled as an alternative to sampling the entrance line twice on a given survey. A Sea-Bird Electronics (SBE)19plus SEACAT CTD profiler is used to acquire surface to bottom profiles of temperature and salinity at ten stations along the transect, with approximately 400 meters between stations. Turbidity measurements are made with an integrated WETLabs ECO Fluorometer sensor integrated with the CTD profiler. At each station, the CTD profiler is lowered at 1 meter/second from approximately 2 meters depth to 1-2 meters from the bottom, with a sample rate of 4 times/second. Station locations were recorded from vessel-mounted or handheld GPS units. Oceanographic data collected along shipboard transects are analyzed for spatial and temporal (seasonal and annual) patterns, to identify ecological patterns and relationships, and determine drivers of variability and change for injured resources in the Gulf of Alaska.