AMAPPS Southeast Aerial Cruise Winter 2015

Original provider:
NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC)

Dataset credits:
NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC)

Abstract:
As part of the AMAPPS program, the Southeast Fisheries
Science Center conducts aerial surveys of continental
shelf waters along the US east coast from Cape Canaveral,
Florida to Cape May, New Jersey. The survey was conducted
during 2015 between 23 January and 3 March. It was
conducted along tracklines oriented perpendicular to the
shoreline that were latitudinally spaced 20 km apart
aboard a NOAA Twin Otter aircraft at an altitude of 600
feet (183 m) and a speed of 110 knots. The survey was
designed for analysis using Distance sampling and a two-
team (independent observer) approach to correct for
visibility bias in resulting abundance estimates.
The survey covered waters from Cape May, NJ to Cape
Canaveral, FL including “fine-scale” tracklines in waters
offshore of New Jersey. The majority of survey effort
occurred in waters from Cape Hatteras, NC and south. Due
to weather conditions during the survey, a few areas of
the study area were not surveyed.