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.

北极海洋生态系统可通过物理环境改变（例如水文状况（hydrography）与海冰覆盖（ice cover））对气候变化产生剧烈响应。深入理解耦合生物-物理海洋生态系统及其年际变异性，是预测并理解气候变化对北极生态系统潜在影响的必要前提。阿拉斯加巴罗附近的楚科奇-博福特海区域（涵盖近岸水域）被认定为关键研究区域：该区域地处多个大洋的交汇处，且位于太平洋北极门户的下游，因此在物理与生态层面均受到经白令海峡输入的北白令海物质影响。此外，巴罗角附近的陆架是弓头鲸从加拿大北极区向白令海秋季洄游期间的知名觅食热点区域。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，研究团队于2005至2015年的8-9月期间，依托船基调查每年在楚科奇海及近岸博福特海开展海洋学采样，该工作隶属于多项研究计划。本数据集包含2008年8-9月间，在阿拉斯加楚科奇海、博福特陆架及巴罗峡谷各站位开展的浮游生物拖网（plankton tows）采样所获得的中型浮游动物（mesozooplankton）丰度数据。采样与分析方法的详细说明，请参阅ZooplanktonMethods_2008.txt文件及在线补充资料。本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。