Video Plankton Recorder data from R/V Columbus Iselin, R/V Endeavor cruises CI9407, EN259, and EN262 in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank from 1994-1995 (GB project) (NCEI Accession 0278736)

This dataset contains biological, optical, physical, and survey - biological data collected on R/V Columbus Iselin and R/V Endeavor during cruises CI9407, EN259, and EN262 in the North Atlantic Ocean from 1994-01-01 to 1995-12-31. These data include abundance, fluorescence, light transmission (volts), salinity calculated from CTD primary sensors, sigma-t, water pressure, and water temperature. The instruments used to collect these data include Video Plankton Recorder. These data were collected by Carin J. Ashjian of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution as part of the "U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank (GB)" project and "U.S. GLOBal ocean ECosystems dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC)" program. The Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO) submitted these data to NCEI on 2020-01-27.

The following is the text of the dataset description provided by BCO-DMO:

Video Plankton Recorder data

Dataset Description:
This dataset includes ALL the abundance values, zero and non-zero. The data files are very large. In order to map the VPR data, see the VPR_ashjian_nonzero [ http://globec.whoi.edu/jg/serv/globec/gb/vpr_cashjian_nonzero.html0 ]. In the 'nonzero' dataset, values of 0 in the abund_L column (taxon abundance) have been removed.

For an alternate display, including both zero and non-zero data, see VPR_ashjian_alt [ http://globec.whoi.edu/jg/serv/globec/gb/vpr_cashjian_read.html0 ].

Methodology
The following information was extracted from C.J. Ashjian et al., Deep- Sea Research II 48(2001) 245-282 . An in-depth discussion of the data and sampling methods can be found there.

The Video Plankton Recorder was towed at 2 m/s, collecting data from the surface to the bottom (towyo). The VPR was equipped with 2-4 cameras, temperature and conductivity probes, fluorometer and transmissometer. Environmental data was collected at 0.25 Hz (CI9407) or 0.5 Hz (EN259, EN262). Video images were recorded at 60 fields per second (fps).

Video tapes were analyzed for plankton abundances using a semi-automated method discussed in Davis, C.S. et al., Deep-Sea Research II 43 (1996) 1946-1970 . In-focus images were extracted from the video tapes and identified by hand to particle type, taxon, or species. Plankton and particle observations were merged with environmental and navigational data by binning the observations for each category into the time intervals at which the environmental data were collected (again see above Davis citation). Concentrations were calculated utilizing the total volume (liters) imaged during that period. For less-abundant categories, usually only a single organism was observed during each time interval so that the resulting concentrations are close to presence or absence data rather than covering a range of values.