AusCPR: Plankton Biomass Index for Australian Waters

IMOS's Australian Continuous Plankton Recorder survey measures plankton communities as an indicator of ocean health. The dataset provides a biomass index derived from dry weight analysis of plankton samples collected from ships of opportunity. Its aims include mapping biodiversity, establishing a long-term baseline, and documenting changes in response to climate change.

Use Cases

• Mapping plankton biodiversity and distribution across Australian waters based on survey data.
• Developing long-term plankton baselines for climate change impact studies.
• Providing biomass indices to inform fisheries management decisions.
• Validating satellite remote sensing data with in-situ plankton measurements.
• Initializing and testing marine ecosystem models with plankton community data.

Strengths

• Data is part of a national long-term observing system (IMOS), suggesting structured collection.
• Cross-platform presence on data.gov.au and the AODN portal indicates established curation and access.
• Project involves major Australian research institutions (CSIRO, Australian Antarctic Division).

Limitations

• Dataset is explicitly marked as superseded by a newer collection, indicating it is not the current version.
• Critical metadata such as row count, specific columns, and license details are unavailable in the provided sources.
• The provided descriptions are identical and repetitive, offering no incremental detail.

Provenance

Source

Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) - Ships of Opportunity facility, a joint project of CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere and the Australian Antarctic Division.

Collection Method

Samples collected by Continuous Plankton Recorders (CPR) towed by ships of opportunity, with biomass determined by dry weight measurement.

Freshness

Last updated dates are in 2026, but these are likely metadata system dates; the dataset's actual temporal coverage is null.

Geography

Australian waters.