Near-bottom zooplankton aggregations in Kongsfjorden with link to images from the optical zooplankton sensor MOKI ...

• Main Authors: Hirche, Hans-Juergen, Laudien, Jürgen, Buchholz, Friedrich
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2015
• Subjects: Optional event label; DATE/TIME; Latitude of event; Longitude of event; DEPTH, water; File name; Uniform resource locator/link to image; File size; Moored onsight keyspecies investigation; Moored onsight keyspecies investigation MOKI; Bentho-Pelagic Processes @ AWI AWI_BPP; Calanus hyperboreus; Kongsfjord*; Kongsfjorden; Svalbard; Copepods
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.840353; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.840353

Near-bottom zooplankton communities have rarely been studied despite numerous reports of high zooplankton concentrations, probably due to methodological constraints. In Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, the near-bottom layer was studied for the first time by combining daytime deployments of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), the optical zooplankton sensor moored on-sight key species investigation (MOKI), and Tucker trawl sampling. ROV data from the fjord entrance and the inner fjord showed high near-bottom abundances of euphausiids with a mean concentration of 17.3 ± 3.5 n/100 m**3. With the MOKI system, we observed varying numbers of euphausiids, amphipods, chaetognaths, and copepods on the seafloor at six stations. Light-induced zooplankton swarms reached densities in the order of 90,000 (euphausiids), 120,000 (amphipods), and 470,000 ind/m**3 (chaetognaths), whereas older copepodids of Calanus hyperboreus and C. glacialis did not respond to light. They were abundant at the seafloor and 5 m above and showed maximum ... : Supplement to: Hirche, Hans-Juergen; Laudien, Jürgen; Buchholz, Friedrich (2015): Near-bottom zooplankton aggregations in Kongsfjorden: implications for pelago-benthic coupling. Polar Biology ...