Gulf of Mexico Brine Disposal Marine Chemistry and Plankton Data

From February 1980 to May 1982, Texas A&M University collected chemical, phytoplankton, and zooplankton data in the Gulf of Mexico as part of the Brine Disposal project. The dataset includes measurements of water physics, chemistry, and biological populations, processed by NODC into standard formats. It covers parameters like salinity, temperature, oxygen, nutrient concentrations, and species counts.

Use Cases

• Analyze relationships between nutrient concentrations (nitrate, phosphate, silicate) and phytoplankton abundance (cell counts, chlorophyll) to model primary productivity.
• Study zooplankton distribution and catch statistics in relation to physical water column data like temperature, salinity, and current velocity components.
• Model apparent oxygen utilization and percent oxygen saturation as a function of water column chemistry and biological activity.
• Investigate correlations between total suspended matter, petroleum hydrocarbons, and fish/shellfish resource data from bottom trawl surveys.
• Examine temporal trends in marine chemistry parameters like ammonia, nitrite, and dissolved organic carbon over the 28-month sampling period.

Strengths

• Data spans 28 months from February 1980 to May 1982, providing temporal context.
• Includes multi-faceted data across four standard NODC formats covering physics, chemistry, and multiple biological groups.
• Contains detailed environmental measurements like sigma-t density, transmissivity, and meteorological conditions.

Limitations

• Exact row count, column count, and sample size are unknown, limiting reproducibility of analyses.
• Data is over 40 years old, which may limit its relevance for current ecosystem state assessments.
• Spatial coverage is confined to the Gulf of Mexico, reducing generalizability to other marine regions.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Collected using moored current meter casts and other instruments; processed by NODC to standard formats.

Time Range

1980-02-17 to 1982-05-27

Freshness

null

Geography

Gulf of Mexico