EcoMon: Plankton Abundance and Ocean Conditions on the Northeast Shelf

From 1977-02-13 to 2023-11-15, the Ecosystem Monitoring Program collected data on zooplankton and ichthyoplankton distribution and abundance, alongside sea surface and bottom water temperatures and salinities. Surveys were conducted 6-7 times per year across the continental shelf from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, to Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, targeting 30 randomly selected stations in each of four regions. The dataset includes GIS shapefiles of the sampling strata and supports analyses of seasonal and interannual variability in this fishery-relevant ecosystem.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term trends in zooplankton abundance based on the 46-year time series.
• Modeling fish recruitment by correlating ichthyoplankton data with physical water properties.
• Mapping plankton distribution across the four defined regions (Mid-Atlantic Bight, Southern New England, Georges Bank, Gulf of Maine).
• Assessing ecosystem baseline conditions using the integrated temperature and salinity measurements.

Strengths

• Long-term temporal coverage spanning over 46 years (1977-2023).
• Spatially structured sampling design covering four distinct regions of the Northwest Atlantic shelf.
• Includes both biological (plankton abundance) and physical (temperature, salinity) data layers.

Limitations

• Column names and specific data structure are not provided in the available metadata.
• There is a conflict in the temporal coverage end date between sources (2017 vs. 2023).
• The dataset's license and exact row/size information are unknown.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected during shelf-wide fisheries surveys using NOAA research ships or charter vessels.

Time Range

1977-02-13 to 2023-11-15

Freshness

Last updated metadata on 2026-03-05, though data collection ended in 2023.

Geography

Northwest Atlantic continental shelf from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, to Cape Sable, Nova Scotia.