Zooplankton Abundance and Environmental Data from North Atlantic Ocean Cruise, 1975
Updated 4mo ago
13files
Available on 2 platforms
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Description
North Atlantic Ocean data from a 1975 research cruise aboard the G.W. PIERCE provides information on zooplankton taxonomy, abundance, and associated environmental conditions. The dataset, processed to the NODC F124 standard format, likely contains records for species counts by life stage, sampling depths, temperature, and salinity. These measurements support analysis of marine population distribution and ecosystem productivity during the specific cruise period.
Use Cases
Analyzing zooplankton species distribution and concentration based on taxonomic codes and subsample counts.
Studying relationships between plankton abundance and environmental variables like temperature and sampling depth.
Investigating life history stage composition (adults, juveniles, eggs, larvae) within plankton communities.
Assessing historical baseline conditions for marine ecosystem studies in the Mid-Atlantic continental shelf region.
Strengths
Data is structured to a documented, domain-specific standard (NODC F124 format) for zooplankton data.
Provides a temporally and geographically focused snapshot from a defined research cruise (October 23-30, 1975, North Atlantic Ocean).
Cross-platform presence (NASA Earthdata, Data.gov) indicates recognized importance and curation.
Limitations
Critical metadata is missing: exact column names, row count, file size, and license are not provided by any source.
Data is historical (1975) and from a single, brief cruise, limiting temporal and spatial generalizability.
Sources conflict on the 'last updated' date (1975 vs. 2026), creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.
Provenance
Source
Virginia Institute of Marine Science, collected from the R/V G.W. PIERCE.
Collection Method
Net casts and other instruments, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC).
Time Range
1975-10-23 to 1975-10-30
Freshness
2026-03-05 23:04:40.394997
Geography
North Atlantic Ocean, specifically the Ocean Continental Shelf - Mid Atlantic (OCS-Mid Atlantic) region.
The NODC F124 format has specific rules for reporting life history stages; data may use one of two alternative recording methods described in the documentation.