Benthic Species and Environmental Data from Gulf of Mexico Surveys, 1980-1984
Updated 3mo ago
12files
Available on 2 platforms
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Description
From October 1980 to April 1984, benthic organisms were collected aboard the R/V VENTURE in the Gulf of Mexico as part of the S.W. Florida Shelf project. The dataset, processed to the NODC F132 standard, likely contains species abundance, biomass, and associated environmental measurements from sampling stations. Data columns suggest information on cruise logistics, station positions, sampling methods, and concurrent measurements of water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and sediment characteristics.
Use Cases
Analyzing historical species abundance and biomass trends based on reported organism counts and weights.
Modeling benthic community distribution in relation to environmental variables like bottom temperature and salinity.
Assessing the impact of sampling methodology (e.g., grab, trawl, net) on recorded species composition.
Conducting spatiotemporal analysis of marine populations using reported station positions and times.
Strengths
Data follows a documented federal standard (NODC F132 format), suggesting consistent structure.
Includes concurrent environmental measurements, enabling ecological correlation studies.
Covers a multi-year time series from 1980 to 1984 in the Gulf of Mexico.
Limitations
Critical metadata is missing: row count, file size, column names, and specific license are unknown.
Conflicting 'last updated' dates (1984 vs. 2026) create uncertainty about data currency and maintenance.
Documentation is external, requiring users to visit a NOAA website for full format details.
Provenance
Source
Data submitted by Woodward - Cycle Consultant, processed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC).
Collection Method
Field sampling using nets, sediment samplers (grab/core), tows (dredge/trawl), and other instruments from the research vessel R/V VENTURE.
Time Range
1980-10-27 to 1984-04-29
Freshness
Last updated date conflicts: one source lists 1984-04-29, others list 2026-03-06.
Geography
Gulf of Mexico, specifically the S.W. Florida Shelf region.
Data is hosted on multiple platforms (Data.gov, NASA Earthdata) with identical descriptions but inconsistent metadata entries.