Gulf of Mexico Marine Ecosystem Measurements from Brine Disposal Project

Moored instruments collected current direction, speed, water temperature, salinity, and benthic organism data from the CAPT JACK and GUTS III vessels in the Gulf of Mexico. Texas A&M University submitted the data as part of the Brine Disposal project, spanning from January 1978 to June 1980. The National Oceanographic Data Center processed the records into standard formats for current meter, benthic organisms, fish/shellfish resources, and wind wave spectra.

Use Cases

• Analyze current direction and speed time series from moored meters to model Gulf circulation patterns.
• Correlate benthic organism catch statistics (weight, volume) with environmental parameters like bottom temperature and salinity.
• Study wind wave spectra (dominant wave direction, height, period) alongside concurrent meteorological conditions.
• Assess fish and shellfish population density from tow catch data against surface and bottom current measurements.
• Examine predator/prey relationships from stomach contents analysis recorded in the biological data format.

Strengths

• Data processed into four standardized NODC formats (F005, F132, F123, F191) ensuring consistency.
• Time series measurements reported at 10-15 minute intervals providing high temporal resolution for currents.
• Includes multiple environmental parameters per station: water temperature, salinity, conductivity, wind, and wave data.

Limitations

• Data collection ended in June 1980, making it temporally stale for contemporary climate studies.
• Specific row counts, column details, and sample sizes for biological catches are unknown.
• Geographic coverage is limited to the Gulf of Mexico, with potential bias from the Brine Disposal project locations.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI Accession 8000465).

Collection Method

Moored current meter casts and other instruments deployed from vessels CAPT JACK and GUTS III.

Time Range

1978-01-12 to 1980-06-01

Freshness

null

Geography

Gulf of Mexico