Benthic Organism Survey from Gulf of Mexico Expedition

NCEI Accession 8000603 contains data on bottom-dwelling marine organisms collected from the Gulf of Mexico on December 19, 1979. The dataset includes species abundance, distribution, and biomass information from sediment sampler casts. Data were submitted by Texas A&M University as part of the Brine Disposal project.

Use Cases

• Analyze species_abundance and total_weight_of_organisms per species to model benthic biomass distribution in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Correlate sediment_characteristics and bottom_temperature data from sampling sites with organism counts to study habitat preferences.
• Map species_distribution using station_positions to visualize spatial patterns of benthic communities.
• Use cruise_information like vessel and investigator metadata to track data provenance for historical research synthesis.

Strengths

• Data includes multiple measured dimensions: species counts, organism weights, and environmental parameters like salinity and dissolved oxygen.
• Cruise metadata provides structured context with vessel, dates, investigator, and institution for each survey.

Limitations

• Temporal coverage is limited to a single day of sampling on December 19, 1979.
• The specific row count and total number of species recorded are unknown.
• Geographic coverage is confined to the specific stations sampled in the Gulf of Mexico during this cruise.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), submitted by Texas A&M University.

Collection Method

Field sampling using sediment sampler casts, following the F132 format for bottom-dwelling organism surveys.

Time Range

1979-12-19 to 1979-12-19

Freshness

Data is from a single-day collection in 1979; no update frequency.

Geography

Gulf of Mexico, specific station positions from the EXCELLENCE cruise.