Gulf of Mexico Plankton and Water Quality Post-Macondo Spill

Twenty-six sites off the Florida Panhandle in the Gulf of Mexico were sampled from July 8-10, 2012 aboard the R/V Bellows. The dataset combines CTD and water quality measurements with detailed taxonomic profiles of coccolithophores, diatoms, dinoflagellates, and microzooplankton, collected to assess the impact of the Macondo Oil Spill. Data were analyzed by the Wetlands Research Laboratory at the University of West Florida and are hosted by NOAA NCEI.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the relationship between nutrient concentrations (e.g., ammonia) and phytoplankton community composition at different depths.
• Assessing post-spill recovery by comparing coccolithophore cell density and species counts across 26 sampling sites.
• Modeling microzooplankton grazing pressure using normalized abundance data from 13 offshore shelf sites.
• Correlating in-situ water quality parameters (e.g., conductivity, fluorescence) with quantitative phytoplankton profiles from five Pensacola transect stations.

Strengths

• High-resolution taxonomic identification using scanning electron microscopy, with up to 700 fields-of-view examined per sample.
• Multi-faceted data collection includes physical (CTD), chemical (nutrients), and detailed biological (phytoplankton and microzooplankton taxonomy) parameters from the same cruise.

Limitations

• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source, limiting immediate usability.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist between platforms (2012-07-10 and 2026-03-05), creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.

Provenance

Source

NOAA NCEI, with data collection and analysis by the Wetlands Research Laboratory at the University of West Florida.

Collection Method

Water samples collected via Niskin bottles and vertical net tows, analyzed with scanning electron microscopy and laboratory nutrient analysis.

Time Range

2012-07-08 to 2012-07-10

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:58:21.463684

Geography

Head of DeSoto Canyon, Gulf of Mexico, off the Florida Panhandle.