Seward Line Zooplankton Data, 2012 to 2015, Gulf Watch Alaska Environmental Drivers Component

These data are part of the Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA), Environmental Drivers Component of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council (project numbers 12120114-J, 13120114-J, 14120114-J, 15120114-J, and 16120114-J). Gulf Watch Alaska is the long-term ecosystem monitoring program of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council for the marine ecosystem affected by the 1989 oil spill.

This dataset describes zooplankton species composition and abundance from stations along the Seward Line (a long-term observation transect on the Gulf of Alaska shelf) and Prince William Sound (PWS) in the Gulf of Alaska from 2012 to 2015. This dataset continues a long-term observation program which began in 1997 along the Seward Line and in PWS to assess the current state of the Northern Gulf of Alaska.
During 2012-2015, 13 primary and 9 secondary stations along the Seward Line and 12 stations in Prince William Sound (eastern PWS stations were added in 2012) were sampled in May and early September from the USFWS vessel Tiglax. The dataset is two comma-seperated values (csv) files containing species composition, abundance, distribution and biomass of zooplankton within the Gulf of Alaska using two different nets (CalVET, MultiNet) and two different tow techniques. Data were collected by Dr. K.O. Coyle of the Institute of Marine Science, University of Alaska, Fairbanks for the Gulf of Alaska LTOP (Long Term Observation Project) funded by various funders.