Phytoplankton Cell Counts from a Moored Flow Cytometer at Martha's Vineyard, 2003-2004

Phytoplankton cell counts were collected from a moored submersible flow cytometer at the Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory in Massachusetts. The data, provided by NOAA NCEI, cover the period from May 2003 to September 2004 and report concentrations for Synechococcus and Eukaryotes in cells per milliliter. Data are stored in yearly, space-separated ASCII text files for 2003 and 2004.

Use Cases

• Modeling phytoplankton bloom dynamics based on time-series cell count data.
• Analyzing seasonal patterns of Synechococcus and Eukaryote populations in a coastal environment.
• Correlating phytoplankton abundance with other environmental variables from the observatory.
• Validating satellite-derived ocean color products with in-situ cell concentration measurements.

Strengths

• Data collection spans over a year, from 2003-05 10 to 2004-09-30.
• Provides specific cell counts for two phytoplankton groups: Synechococcus and Eukaryotes.
• Data originates from a fixed coastal observatory, ensuring consistent location and methodology.

Limitations

• Last updated 2006-12-31 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

NOAA NCEI (National Centers for Environmental Information).

Collection Method

Collected using a moored submersible flow cytometer.

Time Range

2003-05-10 to 2004-09-30.

Freshness

Data collection ended in 2004; the record was last updated in 2006.

Geography

Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory, Massachusetts, USA.