West Antarctic Benthic Megafauna Census from Otter Trawls

Otter trawl collections and video surveys document benthic megafauna on the West Antarctic Peninsula shelf. The FOODBANCS 1 project gathered this data across five research cruises between 1999 and 2001. The SCIOPS organization is the data provider.

Use Cases

• Analyze species abundance and composition from otter trawl collection records.
• Map megafauna distribution using geospatial coordinates from video survey transects.
• Compare community structure across different sampling cruises and years (1999-2001).
• Correlate benthic census data with concurrent oceanographic measurements from the FOODBANCS project.

Strengths

• Data collected from five dedicated research cruises, providing multiple sampling events.
• Combines two complementary collection methods: otter trawls and video surveys.
• Focuses on the ecologically significant West Antarctic Peninsula shelf region.

Limitations

• Exact sample size (row count) and number of measured features are unknown.
• Data is over 20 years old, limiting analysis of current ecosystem states.
• Potential geographic bias limited to specific trawl and survey locations on the shelf.

Provenance

Source

SCIOPS organization via NASA EarthData.

Collection Method

Otter trawl collections and video surveys of the seafloor.

Time Range

1999 to 2001

Geography

West Antarctic Peninsula shelf