Northeast US Marine Water Chemistry and Phytoplankton Data 1977-1981

Northeast US coastal data from bottle casts and bottom grabs between February 1977 and August 1981. The dataset contains physical, chemical, phytoplankton, and marine toxin measurements processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center into standard formats. Data were collected by the Fish and Wildlife Service and other institutions primarily for the North East Monitoring Program.

Use Cases

• Analyzing temporal trends in nutrient concentrations (nitrate, phosphate, ammonia) and dissolved oxygen.
• Modeling phytoplankton species distribution and abundance using cell counts and carbon concentration data.
• Assessing historical baseline levels of marine toxic substances and pollutants in water and sediment samples.
• Correlating physical parameters like temperature, salinity, and density (sigma-t) with biological observations.
• Studying coastal environmental conditions using cruise and station metadata, including sampling depth and location.

Strengths

• Data spans a multi-year time series from 1977 to 1981, enabling temporal analysis.
• Includes measurements across three distinct domains: water physics/chemistry, phytoplankton, and marine toxins.
• Processed to standardized NODC formats (F004, F028, F144), ensuring consistent structure.
• Presence on multiple authoritative platforms (NASA EarthData, Data.gov) signals importance and curation.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, column names, and dataset size are not provided by any source.
• Conflicting last updated dates: one source lists 1981-08-10, another lists 2026-03-06, suggesting a metadata refresh versus data end date.
• Original sampling methodology and precise spatial coordinates beyond 'Northeast US' are not detailed.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), originating from Fish and Wildlife Service - Eastern Pennsylvania Region and other institutions.

Collection Method

Data collected from bottle casts and bottom grabs aboard NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV and other platforms, processed by NODC.

Time Range

1977-02 12 to 1981-08-10

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:08:43.784303

Geography

Northeast US coastal waters, Northwest Atlantic Ocean.