AusCPR: Phytoplankton Colour Index for Australian Waters

IMOS - AusCPR: Phytoplankton Colour Index (PCI) data measures plankton communities as a guide to ocean health around Australia. The dataset supports mapping plankton biodiversity, developing a long-term baseline, and documenting changes in response to climate change. It is a joint project of CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research and the Australian Antarctic Division, funded by the Integrated Marine Observing System.

Use Cases

• Mapping plankton biodiversity and distribution based on survey transects.
• Developing long-term plankton baselines for Australian waters to track ecosystem health.
• Documenting plankton changes in response to climate change using time-series data.
• Providing indices for fisheries management by correlating plankton abundance with fish stocks.
• Validating satellite remote sensing data with in-situ phytoplankton colour index measurements.

Strengths

• Data collection follows a standardized methodology (Richardson et al. 2006).
• Project is a collaboration between major national research institutions (CSIRO CMAR and AAD).
• Data is planned to be interoperable with other national and international programs through IMOS infrastructure.

Limitations

• Dataset has been superseded by a newer collection (IMOS - Phytoplankton Abundance and Biovolume) and was removed from the primary portal in March 2022.
• Key metadata such as row count, specific columns, file size, and license are not provided in the sources.
• The listed file formats (AUDIO/BASIC, HTML, PNG) are inconsistent with the described tabular, time-series nature of the data, suggesting metadata errors.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network (AODN) via the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS).

Collection Method

Data gathered via the Australian Continuous Plankton Recorder (AusCPR) survey, part of the Ships of Opportunity facility.

Freshness

Last updated dates are in 2026, but these are likely metadata system artifacts; the dataset itself is noted as superseded.

Geography

Australian waters, including the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Arafura Sea, Coral Sea, Tasman Sea, Timor Sea, and coastal regions of all Australian states and territories, as well as New Zealand.