The Australian Continuous Plankton Recorder (AusCPR) survey is a joint project between CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere (O&A) and the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) to measure plankton communities as a guide to the health of Australia's oceans. The biomass is analysed from the same segment from which the zooplankton is analysed. All the plankton is washed onto a pre-weighed filter. This is left in an oven at 60 degrees C for 24-48 hours. It is reweighed to give the dry weight. It is advised that anyone using the data should contact the project contact person. The aims of the AusCPR survey are to: * map plankton biodiversity and distribution * develop the first long-term plankton baseline for Australian waters * document plankton changes in response to climate change * provide indices for fisheries management * detect harmful algal blooms * validate satellite remote sensing * initialise and test ecosystem models. Servicing and maintenance of the CPRs and analysis of the samples for the AusCPR survey will be carried out by staff based at the O&A CSIRO laboratories in Queensland and Hobart and at the AAD in Hobart. The project was funded by the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) and falls with the Ships of Opportunity facility. Data storage and access is planned to be interoperable with other national and international programs through the IMOS Infrastructure. Results from the AusCPR survey are available through the AODN portal: https://portal.aodn.org.au. This data is freely available but please acknowledge all relevant parties, as detailed in acknowledgement section.

Phytoplankton Colour Index (PCI) After the silk has been marked into 5 nautical mile samples but prior to cutting, each sample is visually assigned a greenness index by comparison with standard colour charts: viz. no colour, very pale green, pale green, and green. These four levels of the phytoplankton colour index (PCI) represent the amount of phytoplankton pigment on the silk and have been assigned numerical values on a ratio scale based on acetone extracts using spectrophotometric methods. Results from the AusCPR survey are available through the AODN portal: https://portal.aodn.org.au This data is freely available but please acknowledgment all relevant parties, as detailed in acknowledgement section.

These data are IMOS AusCPR datasets comprising combined phytoplankton and zooplankton records, which are supplied to the Global Alliance of Continuous Plankton Recorder Surveys (GACs - http://www.globalcpr.org ). See: IMOS - AusCPR: Phytoplankton Abundance http://www.marlin.csiro.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/search#!c1344979-f701-0916-e044-00144f7bc0f4 IMOS - AusCPR: Zooplankton Abundance http://www.marlin.csiro.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/search#!c1344e70-480e-0993-e044-00144f7bc0f4 These data consist of the combined Phytoplankton and Zooplankton data, and are distributed to the Global Alliance of Continuous Plankton Recorder Surveys (GACs - http://www.globalcpr.org). Data are distributed using the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT), and are comprised of three related datasets: Metadata: AusCPR_METADATA Event Data: AusCPR_EVENTDATA Occurrence Data: AusCPR_OCCURRENCEDATA ---- Context: Phytoplankton and Zooplankton abundance records: The Australian Continuous Plankton Recorder (AusCPR) survey is a joint project between CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere (O&A) and the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) to measure plankton communities as a guide to the health of Australia's oceans. Details on how phytoplankton and zooplankton abundance data were analysed are described in the metadata links above. It is advised that anyone using the data should first read this methodology or contact the project contact person. The aims of the AusCPR survey are to: * map plankton biodiversity and distribution * develop the first long-term plankton baseline for Australian waters * document plankton changes in response to climate change * provide indices for fisheries management * detect harmful algal blooms * validate satellite remote sensing * initialise and test ecosystem models. Servicing and maintenance of the CPRs and analysis of the samples for the AusCPR survey will be carried out by staff based at the CSIRO O&A laboratories in Queensland and Tasmania, and at the AAD in Hobart. The project was funded by the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) and falls with the Ships of Opportunity facility. Data storage and access is planned to be interoperable with other national and international programs through the IMOS Infrastructure. Results from the AusCPR survey are available through the AODN portal: https://portal.aodn.org.au. For information on using the data please refer to the Richardson et al. 2006. As the taxonomic resolution of the data has changed over time, due to continual training, it is important that users refer to the change log tables included in your data download. These will provide information on the validity of the taxa, from what date we have been identifying certain taxa etc. Classification fields may be blank depending on the level to which that taxa has been identified, i.e. if only identified to family, genus and species will be blank. This data is freely available but please acknowledge all relevant parties, as detailed in acknowledgement section.

AusCPR: Phytoplankton Abundance. The Australian Continuous Plankton Recorder (AusCPR) survey is a joint project between CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere (O&A) and the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) to measure plankton communities as a guide to the health of Australia's oceans. The phytoplankton abundance data are analysed as per Richardson et al 2006. Phytoplankton are usually counted from water samples after settling but in the CPR analysis we count the phytoplankton in situ. With CPR samples, the phytoplankton is captured by the mesh and are caught by the silk strands, by phytoplankton mucilage, and/or by other organisms on the silk. It is thus possible to see the phytoplankton cells directly on the mesh. In essence, the phytoplankton is already concentrated. Washing the phytoplankton off the silks to count in the standard manner may result in loss of or damage to cells before analysis. It is advised that anyone using the data should first read this methodology or contact the project contact person. The aims of the AusCPR survey are to: * map plankton biodiversity and distribution * develop the first long-term plankton baseline for Australian waters * document plankton changes in response to climate change * provide indices for fisheries management * detect harmful algal blooms * validate satellite remote sensing * initialise and test ecosystem models. Servicing and maintenance of the CPRs and analysis of the samples for the AusCPR survey will be carried out by staff based at the O&A laboratories in Queensland and at the AAD in Hobart. The project was funded by the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) and falls with the Ships of Opportunity facility. Data storage and access is planned to be interoperable with other national and international programs through the IMOS Infrastructure. Results from the AusCPR survey are available through the AODN portal: https://portal.aodn.org.au. For information on using the data please refer to the Richardson et al. 2006. As the taxonomic resolution of the data has changed over time, due to continual training, it is important that users refer to the change log tables included in your data download. These will provide information on the validity of the taxa, from what date we have been identifying certain taxa etc. Classification fields may be blank depending on the level to which that taxa has been identified, i.e. if only identified to family, genus and species will be blank. This data is freely available but please acknowledge all relevant parties, as detailed in acknowledgement section.

The IMOS Bio-Acoustic Ship Of Opportunity (BA-SOOP) sub-facility is part of a major international effort that aims to determine the distribution and abundance of mid-trophic level organisms (meso-zooplanktonic and micro-nektonic) preyed by top predators (sharks, tuna) by using commercial fishing vessels (SOOP), research vessels, automated oceanic moorings, acoustic recorders, drifters and gliders. The MAAS (Mid-trophic Automatic Acoustic Sampler) project targets two levels of technology: a high level suited to large platforms such as fixed moorings, vessels or AUV and low level platforms adapted to a large number of autonomous drifters. BA-SOOP commenced on the 1st of July 2010 to collect underway acoustic data from commercial fishing and research vessels. At present, nine vessels are participating in the BA-SOOP program. Six are commercial fishing vessels that have agreed to record data during transits to and from fishing grounds. The remaining three are scientific research vessels collecting underway acoustic data during transits and science operations. Bio acoustic signals measure the distribution of mid-water prey species (micronekton) such as small fish, squid, krill and jellyfish. Micronekton form the core of the ocean food web, transferring energy from primary producers at the ocean surface to top predators such as tunas, billfish, sharks, seals and seabirds. The mass and distribution of micronekton reflects broad-scale patterns in the structure and function of the ocean, as well as the dynamics of marine ecosystems. The mapping complements established observing systems such as physical sampling of ocean currents, surveys of ocean chemistry and biology (plankton and zooplankton), and electronic tagging and tracking of large marine fish and mammals. The combined information greatly enhances the capacity of marine scientists to monitor shifts in food availability over time, assisting in the near real-time monitoring and modelling of oceanography, ecosystems, fisheries and climate change, and in understanding the behaviour of top predators. A full metadata record is also stored in each netCDF file. The document SOOP-BA NetCDF manual v1.0.doc describes the netCDF format and metadata fields that have been defined.