Zooplankton dynamics in the Alaska Nearshore, Gulf of Alaska, AK NSF EPSCoR Fire and Ice, April - September, 2019-2021

The coastal margins component of the AK NSF EPSCoR Fire & Ice program has collected monthly zooplankton and oceanographic data throughout the summer production seasons (April-September) of 2019-2021. Zooplankton collection was performed at the beginning of each sampling month using a 0.25 m ring net (150 m mesh) equipped with a calibrated flowmeter (General Oceanics Environmental) to estimate the sampled volume throughout the study. Mesh size was selected to encompass a wide range of pelagic zooplankton species as well as individual life stages common to nearshore ecosystems. The net was fished vertically to a maximum depth of 50 meters, or 5 meters from the seafloor, with a consistent retrieval of approximately 1 m s-1. All samples were collected during daylight hours and immediately stored in 10% formalin-seawater solution until laboratory processing. Oceanographic dynamic variables were collected using a Sea-Bird 19 plus Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth (CTD) recorder (Sea-Bird Electronics Inc., Bellevue, WA, USA) either before or after each zooplankton sample. The CTD was equipped to measure temperature, salinity, fluorescence (2020-2021 only), and depth throughout the water column. All meta data were processed using Microsoft Access file formats with individual observation years recorded independently.

AK NSF EPSCoR火与冰项目的海岸边缘研究组分，于2019-2021年的夏季生产季（4月至9月）期间按月采集浮游动物与海洋学数据。浮游动物样本采集于每个采样月初开展，采用口径0.25米、网目尺寸150米的环形网，并搭载经校准的流量计（General Oceanics Environmental）以估算整个研究周期内的采样体积。该网目尺寸的选取，旨在覆盖近岸生态系统中常见的各类浮游性浮游动物物种及其各发育阶段。采样采用垂直拖曳方式，最大作业深度为50米，或降至距海底5米处，起网速度稳定维持在约1 m·s⁻¹。所有样本均于日间采集，并即刻储存于10%福尔马林-海水混合溶液中，直至送至实验室进行后续处理。海洋动力变量的采集采用Sea-Bird 19 Plus型温盐深（Conductivity, Temperature, Depth, CTD）记录仪（美国华盛顿州贝尔维尤市Sea-Bird Electronics公司出品），于每个浮游动物样本采集的前后分别开展测量。该CTD记录仪可测量全水柱的温度、盐度、荧光度（仅2020-2021年配置该功能）与深度。所有元数据均采用Microsoft Access文件格式进行整理，并按单个观测年份独立归档存储。