BE-1403 Cruise: CTD and Plankton Abundance in DeSoto Canyon

27 CTD sample sites and 14 plankton tow sites were surveyed off the Florida Panhandle from September 14-16, 2013. Plankton abundances are recorded as both individual counts and percentages for 12 taxonomic groups, including dinoflagellates, diatoms, cyanobacteria, and zooplankton. The data likely contains location, date, time, and tow length for each plankton sample, alongside water column measurements.

Use Cases

• Analyzing phytoplankton community composition based on species relative abundance percentages.
• Correlating plankton distributions with water column properties like conductivity and oxygen.
• Studying spatial patterns of key dinoflagellate genera (e.g., Ceratium, Dinophysis) in the DeSoto Canyon region.
• Investigating the relationship between chain-forming diatoms and environmental conditions measured by CTD.

Strengths

• Provides dual data types: physical oceanography (CTD) and biological (plankton taxonomy) from the same cruise.
• Includes both raw counts and normalized percentages for plankton, facilitating comparative analysis.
• Specifies detailed collection methods, including a 25-micrometer mesh net and 0.5-meter diameter.
• Covers a focused temporal window (3 days) and specific geography (head of DeSoto Canyon).

Limitations

• Exact column names, row counts, and file formats are unknown across all sources.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (2013-09-16 vs. 2026-03-06) create uncertainty about metadata maintenance.
• Limited spatial and temporal scale to one cruise over three days.

Provenance

Source

NOAA_NCEI

Collection Method

Collected during R/V Bellows cruise BE-1403 using CTD casts and vertical plankton net tows.

Time Range

2013-09-14 to 2013-09-16

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:22:45.438118

Geography

Offshore shelf sites off the Florida Panhandle at the head of DeSoto Canyon, Gulf of Mexico