Gulf Of Mexico Marine Ecosystem Data From The 1982 Brine Disposal Project

Gulf of Mexico data includes chemical, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and fish observations from moored instruments and casts collected between September and November 1982. The dataset was submitted by Texas A&M University for the Brine Disposal project and processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center into several standard formats. It captures physical water column properties, species counts, and chemical analyses from a focused autumn study period.

Use Cases

• Analyze relationships between water column chemistry (e.g., nitrate, phosphate, salinity) and phytoplankton abundance or species counts from the F028 format.
• Model zooplankton distribution (F124 format) as a function of concurrent physical parameters like temperature, density (sigma-t), and current velocity components (F004 format).
• Investigate correlations between fish and shellfish catch statistics (e.g., weight, number per unit volume from F123) and environmental conditions like bottom temperature, salinity, and current speed.
• Study seasonal chemical gradients in the Gulf of Mexico using parameters like dissolved organic carbon, silicate, and apparent oxygen utilization (F069 format) across the September-November time frame.
• Examine the spatial and temporal co-occurrence of phytoplankton species (F028) and specific zooplankton species (F124) within the same cruise and station information.

Strengths

• Data processed into multiple established NODC standard formats (F004, F028, F069, F123, F124), ensuring structured consistency.
• Multi-faceted capture of marine ecosystem components including physics, chemistry, and biology from the same project and time period.

Limitations

• Dataset is temporally limited to a single autumn season (approximately 3 months in 1982), preventing long-term trend analysis.
• Specific sample sizes, row counts, and geographic coordinates within the Gulf of Mexico are unknown from the provided metadata.

Provenance

Source

Texas A&M University, submitted to NOAA's National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC).

Collection Method

Collected using moored current meter casts and other instruments during the Brine Disposal project.

Time Range

1982-09-07 to 1982-11-30

Freshness

null

Geography

Gulf of Mexico