EPA/Flower Gardens: Marine Fish and Water Chemistry Surveys from 1980-1981

NCEI Accession 8200169 contains physical, chemical, and biological marine data collected by the National Marine Fisheries Service and other institutions from October 1980 to July 1981. The data were processed to the NODC standard F004 Water Physics and Chemistry and F123 Fish/Shell-fish Surveys formats. It includes measurements from bottle casts and bottom trawls conducted from the vessel JEFF AND TINA as part of the EPA/FLOWER GARDENS project.

Use Cases

• Analyze historical fish and shellfish population density and distribution based on bottom trawl catch statistics.
• Study relationships between water chemistry parameters like salinity, oxygen, and nutrients and biological catches.
• Model historical environmental conditions based on recorded meteorological data, surface/bottom temperature, and salinity.
• Conduct species-specific biological analysis based on reported predator/prey information from stomach contents.

Strengths

• Data conforms to established NODC standard formats (F004 and F123), suggesting a structured schema.
• Includes multiple data types: physical water measurements, chemical analyses, and biological survey results.
• Covers a defined time range from 11 October 1980 to 27 July 1981 for temporal analysis.

Limitations

• Last updated 1981-07-27 00:00:00; freshness should be verified.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and other institutions; processed by NODC.

Collection Method

Data collected from bottle casts and bottom trawls from the vessel JEFF AND TINA.

Time Range

1980-10-11 to 1981-07-27

Freshness

Historical dataset; last updated date is 1981-07 27.

Geography

Likely the Flower Gardens area in the Gulf of Mexico (inferred from project name).