This dataset has been extracted as part of an exercise to assemble "all" Cefas
Temperature Data and publish it in a Data paper. It is one of 17 Cefas data
sources assembled.
A series of 12 cruises was carried out in 1976 by DFR staff to investigate the
distribution, abundance, mortality and main predators of planktonic fish eggs
and larvae of important commercial fish species (e.g. plaice, cod). The
cruises secondary aims included the investigation of phytoplankton standing
stock (via measurements of chlorophyll concentration, phytoplankton size and
abundance) and of zooplankton biomass.
Plankton samples were collected at each site on a planned survey grid. These
data consist of numbers of macroplankton from 8 of the samples collected from
an area off the North East coast of England, along with associated positional
data and volumes filtered
Measurements of surface water temperature and salinity, and bottom
temperature, were carried out at each sampling station on a planned survey
grid (see below). Samples for the analysis of dissolved inorganic nutrient and
chlorophyll concentration were also collected at the surface at each sampling
station.
All the hydrographic observations were made from the vessels (RV Corella and
Clione). Surface water temperature was monitored through a stainless–steel
ship–board pumping system. The pump had an intake 4 m below the water surface
and delivered sea water to sensors set up in the ship’s laboratory. The
temperature sensor (as well as the salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen and
transparency sensors) was mounted in a Perspex box though which the pumped
water flowed continuously.
The measurement of temperature at the “bottom” at each sampling station was
obtained from the chart records of the electronic depth gauge and thermistor
sensors mounted on the plankton sampler.
The data collected during these cruises was presented in the ‘Fisheries
Research Technical Report’ n. 86 by Harding and Nichols in 1987. The original
log books from these cruises are in the Cefas plankton physical archive; some
of these log books (e.g. containing plankton and icthyoplankton data) were not
digitised (because not relevant for the project).