Zooplankton abundances from the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas near Point Barrow Alaska during August and September 2008

The Arctic Ocean ecosystem may respond dramatically to climate change through modification of the physical environment (e.g., hydrography and ice cover). A better understanding of the coupled biological-physical ocean ecosystem, and its interannual variability, is necessary to predict and understand these potential impacts of climate change on the Arctic ecosystem. The Chukchi-Beaufort Sea region near Barrow, Alaska, including coastal waters, has been identified as key because it lies at the junction of several ocean regions and is downstream of the Pacific Arctic gateway and hence is influenced physically and ecologically by input from the northern Bering Sea through Bering Strait. Furthermore, the shelf near Point Barrow is a known feeding hotspot for bowhead whales during their fall migration from the Canadian Arctic to the Bering Sea. To address interannual variability in ocean conditions and the formation of the fall bowhead whale feeding hotspot, oceanographic sampling in the Chukchi and near-shore Beaufort Seas was conducted annually using boat-based surveys during August-September 2005-2015 as part of multiple research programs. This data set contains the mesozooplankton abundances from plankton tows conducted at stations on the Chukchi and Beaufort Shelves and in Barrow Canyon, Alaska, during August and September of 2008. See the file ZooplanktonMethods_2008.txt and the on-line information for a description the sampling and analysis methods. Two data files are included: one in Microsoft Excel (.xls) format and the second in ASCII (.txt) format.

北冰洋生态系统或可通过物理环境改造（如水文条件与海冰覆盖）对气候变化产生剧烈响应。若要预测并理解气候变化对北极生态系统的潜在影响，需更深入地理解耦合生物-物理海洋生态系统及其年际变异性。位于阿拉斯加巴罗附近的楚科奇-博福特海区域（含近岸水域）被认定为关键研究区域：该区域地处多个大洋海区的交汇处，且处于太平洋北极通道的下游，因此在物理与生态层面均受到白令海北部经白令海峡输入的影响。此外，巴罗角附近的陆架是弓头鲸从加拿大北极海域前往白令海的秋季洄游过程中已知的觅食热点。为探究海洋环境的年际变异性以及秋季弓头鲸觅食热点的形成机制，研究团队依托多项研究计划，于2005-2015年每年8-9月通过船基调查，在楚科奇海及近岸博福特海开展海洋学采样。本数据集涵盖2008年8-9月期间，在楚科奇海、博福特陆架及阿拉斯加巴罗峡谷各采样站位通过浮游生物拖网获取的中型浮游动物丰度数据。请参阅ZooplanktonMethods_2008.txt文件及在线资料，了解采样与分析方法的详细说明。本次数据集包含两份数据文件：一份为Microsoft Excel (.xls)格式，另一份为ASCII (.txt)格式。