Equatorial Pacific Zooplankton Net Casts from 1992

Zooplankton data were collected from 30 January 1992 to 21 October 1992 via net casts from the R/V Thomas G. Thompson in the TOGA Area of the Pacific Ocean. The dataset was created by the University of Maryland's Horn Point Laboratory under the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study/Equatorial Pacific Basin Study project. Its presence across multiple government platforms indicates its established role in oceanographic research.

Use Cases

• Analyzing zooplankton community composition across the equatorial Pacific transect.
• Correlating plankton biomass with physical oceanographic conditions from the same cruise.
• Serving as baseline biological data for the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS).
• Studying seasonal changes in pelagic ecosystems from January to October 1992.

Strengths

• Data collection spans a 9-month time range from January to October 1992, capturing seasonal variation.
• Collection was part of a major coordinated study (JGOFS/Equatorial Pacific Basin Study), ensuring methodological consistency.
• Cross-platform presence on datagov and NASA EarthData signals peer-reviewed importance and long-term archival.

Limitations

• Critical metadata is missing: no column names, row counts, file sizes, or specific license are provided.
• Sources conflict on the 'last updated' date: datagov lists 2026-03 06, while NASA EarthData lists the collection end date of 1992-10-21.

Provenance

Source

University of Maryland; Horn Point Laboratory, supported by the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study / Equatorial Pacific Basin Study project.

Collection Method

Zooplankton net casts.

Time Range

1992-01-30 to 1992-10-21

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:04:08.672202

Geography

TOGA Area of the Pacific Ocean, from the R/V Thomas G. Thompson.