AusCPR: Phytoplankton Abundance in Australian Waters

Australian Continuous Plankton Recorder survey data measures plankton communities as a guide to ocean health. The dataset is produced by CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere and the Australian Antarctic Division, funded by the Integrated Marine Observing System. Data are available in five binned products, including raw counts and taxonomic groupings, designed for time series analysis.

Use Cases

• Map plankton biodiversity and distribution based on in-situ phytoplankton counts.
• Document plankton changes in response to climate change based on long-term baseline data.
• Provide indices for fisheries management based on plankton abundance trends.
• Detect harmful algal blooms based on species identification data.
• Validate satellite remote sensing and initialize ecosystem models based on plankton community data.

Strengths

• Data distinguishes between true absence (0) and unobserved species (-999), supporting accurate time series analysis.
• Offers five structured products (Raw, Species, Genus, Higher taxonomic group, Derived CPR Indices) for different analysis needs.
• Methodology follows a published standard (Richardson et al. 2006) and data is interoperable with national and international programs.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Taxonomy identification evolves over time, which may affect consistency in historical species counts.

Provenance

Source

CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere and the Australian Antarctic Division, via the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Phytoplankton counted in-situ from Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) samples captured on mesh.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-16 16:14:49.030539; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australian waters.