6 Plankton data

6.1 Chlorophyll_a_AnnualMean

6.1.1 Project information

Lead entity: NOAA

Partner entities: NA

PI name: NOAA OCM

PI contact information:

Data start year: 2021

Data end year: 2024

Spatial scale: USA

6.1.2 Data information

Project link: https://coast.noaa.gov/arcgis/rest/services/OceanReports/Chlorophyll_a_AnnualMean/MapServer

Data link: https://coast.noaa.gov/arcgis/rest/services/OceanReports/Chlorophyll_a_AnnualMean/MapServer/0

Metadata link: NA

Data availability: Yes

Data categories: Plankton

Data type: spatial

6.1.3 Project description

Feature layer of annual mean chlorophyll

6.2 It’s about time: A synthesis of changing phenology in the Gulf of Maine Ecosystem.

6.2.1 Project information

Lead entity: USGS

Partner entities: GMRI; Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences; Center for Coastal Studies; University of New Brunswick; NMFS - NEFSC; Stoney Brook University; WHOI; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; VIMS; University of Massachusetts Amherst; US EPA New England; NeAq; Connecticut Ornithological Association; University of Maine

PI name: Staudinger, M.D., K. Mills, K. Stamieszkin, N. Record, C. Hudak, A. Allyn., A. Diamond, K. Friedland, W. Golet, M. Henderson, C. Hernandez, T. Huntington, R. Ji., C. Johnson, D. Johnson, A. Jordaan, J. Kocik, Y. Li, M. Liebman, O. Nichols, D. Pendleton, A. Richards, T. Robben, A. Thomas, H. Walsh, K. Yakola.

PI contact information:

Data start year: Unknown

Data end year: 2019

Spatial scale: Gulf of Maine

6.2.2 Data information

Project link: https://doi.org/10.1111/fog.12429

Data link: NA

Metadata link: NA

Data availability: No

Data categories: Plankton, Physical oceanography, Habitat

Data type: “research project, synthesis, or technology development”

6.2.3 Project description

This study considers the Gulf of Maine ecosystem, a region of high social and ecological importance in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean and synthesizes current knowledge of (a) key seasonal processes, patterns, and events; (b) direct evidence for shifts in timing; (c) implications of phenological responses for linked ecological-human systems; and (d) potential phenology-focused adaptation strategies and actions.

6.3 Maine DMR larval lobster survey

6.3.1 Project information

Lead entity: ME DMR

Partner entities: Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences

PI name: Glon, H & Fields, D

PI contact information: &

Data start year: 2018

Data end year: Present

Spatial scale: Project

6.3.2 Data information

Project link: https://www.maine.gov/dmr/science/species-information/maine-lobster/lobster-life-stages-and-dmr-surveys/larval-lobster-surveys

Data link: NA

Metadata link: NA

Data availability: “Yes, by request”

Data categories: Plankton

Data type: spatial

6.3.3 Project description

The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) conducts long-term monitoring for larval lobsters at four fixed sites in the Midcoast region. Originally piloted in 2017 in collaboration with Dr. Eric Annis (Hood College), our monitoring dataset officially begins in 2018. Our current survey is a point of comparison to historical work conducted regionally, and provides the youngest life stage dataset within our suite of lobster monitoring programs at ME DMR.

6.4 State of the Ecosystem {ecodata} R package

6.4.1 Project information

Lead entity: NOAA NEFSC

Partner entities: NA

PI name: Brandon Beltz

PI contact information:

Data start year: 2017

Data end year: 2025

Spatial scale: Northwest Atlantic

6.4.2 Data information

Project link: https://github.com/NOAA-EDAB/ecodata

Data link: NA

Metadata link: NA

Data availability: Yes

Data categories: Acoustic, Chemical oceanography, Physical oceanography, Marine mammals, Plankton, Pelagic fishes, Coastal fishes, Elasmobranchs, Diadromous fish

Data type: “research project, synthesis, or technology development”

6.4.3 Project description

ecodata is an R data package developed by the Ecosystems Dynamics and Assessment Branch of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center for use in State of the Ecosystem (SOE) reporting.

6.5 State of the Ecosystem Catalog

6.5.1 Project information

Lead entity: NOAA NEFSC

Partner entities: NA

PI name: Brandon Beltz

PI contact information:

Data start year: 2017

Data end year: 2025

Spatial scale: Northwest Atlantic

6.5.2 Data information

Project link: https://github.com/NOAA-EDAB/catalog

Data link: NA

Metadata link: NA

Data availability: Yes

Data categories: Acoustic, Chemical oceanography, Physical oceanography, Marine mammals, Plankton, Pelagic fishes, Coastal fishes, Elasmobranchs, Diadromous fish

Data type: “research project, synthesis, or technology development”

6.5.3 Project description

Catalog of indicators used in the State of the Ecosystem reports and other ecosystem assessment products.

6.6 Accoustic and Environmental Observation Network - AEON

6.6.1 Project information

Lead entity: University of New Hampshire

Partner entities: JASCO

PI name: Jennifer L. Miksis-Olds

PI contact information:

Data start year: 2021

Data end year: Unknown

Spatial scale: Project

6.6.2 Data information

Project link: https://eos.unh.edu/aeon

Data link: NA

Metadata link: NA

Data availability: Yes

Data categories: Acoustic, Physical oceanography, Plankton

Data type: spatial

6.6.3 Project description

The role of AEON’s passive acoustic monitoring is to provide long-term observations of human and biological activity as well as changes in environmental conditions in support of all four AEON Objectives. The network provides simultaneous, long-term monitoring of soundscapes and multiple acoustically relevant parameters such as marine mammal behavior and prey concentration at key locations where the effects of changes in the Labrador and Gulf Stream currents are projected to impact the Gulf of Maine. At each network site, AEON employs the latest generation of JASCO’s AMAR recorder mounted on an Autonomous Long-Term Observatory (ALTO) lander with ancillary sensors. In addition to the lander recovery and re-deploy, on each deployment effort the team collects CTD profiles to characterize hydrographic conditions at the sites, conducts net sampling to collect biological specimens at each site, and conducts fine-scale (roughly 5n.mi by 5 n.mi) multi-frequency acoustic surveys at each site

[1] “This data was sourced from: RWSC_early-2025”

6.7 Atlantic Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (AMAPPS) I, II, and III

6.7.1 Project information

Lead entity: NOAA

Partner entities: BOEM, US Navy, USFWS

PI name: Debra Palka

PI contact information:

Data start year: 2010

Data end year: 2050

Spatial scale: Northwest Atlantic

6.7.2 Data information

Project link: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/new-england-mid-atlantic/population-assessments/atlantic-marine-assessment-program-protected

Data link: https://apps-nefsc.fisheries.noaa.gov/amappsviewer/

Metadata link: NA

Data availability: Yes

Data categories: Acoustic, Marine mammals, Plankton, Sea turtles, Seabirds

Data type: spatial

6.7.3 Project description

Visual sightings of cetaceans, seabirds, sea turtles and seals, acoustic detections, location/depth, physical water characteristics, distribution and density of fish and plankton. These models rely on seasonal distribution and abundance data our scientists have collected over multiple years using aerial and shipboard surveys. They also include dive pattern information from individually-tagged turtles and detections from passive acoustic recording devices.

[1] “This data was sourced from: RWSC_early-2025”

6.8 Ecosystem Monitoring on the Continental Shelf (EcoMon)

6.8.1 Project information

Lead entity: NOAA NEFSC

Partner entities: NA

PI name: Jonathan Hare

PI contact information:

Data start year: 1977

Data end year: 2050

Spatial scale: Northwest Atlantic

6.8.2 Data information

Project link: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/resource/data/ecosystem-monitoring-northeast-us-continental-shelf-plankton-dataset

Data link: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/metadata/landing-page/bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.nodc:0187513

Metadata link: NA

Data availability: Yes

Data categories: Physical oceanography, Plankton, Sea turtles

Data type: spatial

6.8.3 Project description

Plankton nets, pulled through the water down to 650 feet, collect small marine animals such as fish larvae, crab larvae, copepods, and small jellyfish. Special equipment collects information on nutrients, acidity, temperature, salinity, and other parts of the marine environment. Dedicated observers count and photograph marine mammals, turtles, and seabirds seen along the cruise tracks to better understand their migrations and how they find food and habitat on their journeys. EcoMon surveys are conducted at 120 randomly selected stations and 35 fixed stations throughout the continental shelf and slope of the northeastern U.S., from Cape Hatteras, N.C., to Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, and cover all of Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine. Precursor surveys to EcoMon include: - Marine Resources Monitoring, Assessment, and Prediction program (MARMAP; 1977– 1987) - Herring – Sandlance (1988–1994) - Georges Bank Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (GLOBEC; 1995–1999) Data are stored at NCEI and are publicly accessible: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/metadata/landing-page/bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.nodc:0187513

[1] “This data was sourced from: RWSC_early-2025”

6.9 Gulf of Maine Continuous Plankton Recorder Survey

6.9.1 Project information

Lead entity: NOAA NEFSC

Partner entities: Marine Biological Association, WHOI

PI name: Chris Melrose (NOAA)

PI contact information:

Data start year: 1961

Data end year: 2024

Spatial scale: Gulf of Maine

6.9.2 Data information

Project link: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/long-running-plankton-survey-resume-gulf-maine

Data link: https://obis.org/dataset/9ad0f8eb-b983-418d-b881-3b672d9e0005

Metadata link: NA

Data availability: Yes

Data categories: Plankton

Data type: spatial

6.9.3 Project description

A new agreement between NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth, England and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will allow a plankton survey to resume. The survey was originally conducted across the Gulf of Maine from 1961 to 2017. The survey uses a continuous plankton recorder (CPR), a sampling device that is about 1 meter (roughly 3 feet) long. In this survey, it is towed from so-called “ships of opportunity,” such as merchant vessels. These vessels ply the same routes between ports from year to year. Scientists refer to the routes as survey transects. The recorder stays at a depth of about 10 meters (roughly 33 feet). It filters and collects plankton from the water over long distances. The plankton samples are stored on silk mesh in a cartridge inside the instrument and are analyzed later in a laboratory. “The value of sampling in an area accumulates each subsequent year, building a dataset of evidence and insight that we can use to understand recent changes in the marine ecosystem of the Gulf of Maine,” said David Johns, head of the CPR Survey at the Marine Biological Association. “We can compare our new dataset with the historical time series, and start to put these changes into context in a warming world.” Data can be found here: https://obis.org/dataset/9ad0f8eb-b983-418d-b881-3b672d9e0005

[1] “This data was sourced from: RWSC_early-2025”

6.10 Gulf of Maine Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON)

6.10.1 Project information

Lead entity: Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON)

Partner entities: BOEM, NERACOOS, NROC, U.S. IOOS

PI name: Jeffery Runge

PI contact information:

Data start year: 2019

Data end year: 2050

Spatial scale: Gulf of Maine

6.10.2 Data information

Project link: https://marinebon.org/us-mbon/gulf-of-maine/

Data link: https://www.neracoos.org/erddap/search/index.html?page=1&itemsPerPage=1000&searchFor=wbts

Metadata link: NA

Data availability: No

Data categories: Plankton

Data type: spatial

6.10.3 Project description

This MBON project will address a crucial gap for understanding phenological and long-term change in the Gulf of Maine marine ecosystem that has been identified by the Integrated Sentinel Monitoring Network (ISMN) - namely, time series observations of plankton biodiversity at subannual scales. Time series collections will be conducted at a station located in Wilkinson Basin in western Gulf of Maine and a station located in the Maine Coastal Current. NERACOOS and NROC, and the ISMN will undertake responsibility for finding sustained support of these time series, which were established over a decade ago. Phytoplankton and micro and mesozooplankton abundance and species diversity will be microscopically enumerated, and water samples for processing with an Imaging FlowCytobot and eDNA will be collected and analyzed. The ISMN will incorporate a citizen-science initiative to document jellyfish abundance. The observations thus compare traditional with new approaches to biodiversity assessment, expanding MBON into a coastal ecosystem where change is occurring rapidly.

[1] “This data was sourced from: RWSC_early-2025”

6.11 Gulf of Maine North Atlantic Time Series (GNATS)

6.11.1 Project information

Lead entity: Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences

Partner entities: NASA

PI name: William Balch

PI contact information:

Data start year: 2001

Data end year: 2020

Spatial scale: Gulf of Maine

6.11.2 Data information

Project link: https://seabass.gsfc.nasa.gov/experiment/GNATS

Data link: NA

Metadata link: NA

Data availability: Yes

Data categories: Physical oceanography, Chemical oceanography, Plankton

Data type: spatial

6.11.3 Project description

The Gulf of Maine (GoM) is a highly productive shelf sea that constitutes a large part of the N.E. US Continental Shelf. We have run a time series across the GoM for the last 8 years known as GNATS (Gulf of Maine North Atlantic Time Series). It consists of monthly, cross-Gulf sampling on ships of opportunity, during clear-sky days, so that we are assured concurrent measurements from ship and satellite (ocean color, SST). The power of this strategy is seen in our 95% success rate for being at sea during clear, high quality overpasses (randomly, one would expect a success rate of ~10% due to the GoM cloud climatology). We then can extrapolate our large shipboard data set of carbon cycle parameters to regional scales using synoptic remote sensing. GNATS includes a suite of carbon-specific standing stocks and rate measurements (e.g. POC, PIC [calcite], DOC, primary productivity, and calcification) plus hydrographic, chemical and optical measurements. Through coordinated ship/satellite measurements, we can constrain the major carbon production terms of the Gulf, follow their monthly variation using synoptic remote sensing, and regionally tune satellite algorithms. GNATS documents not only marine carbon pools, but it includes carbon supplied from the terrestrial watershed; this is why the Gulf is optically-dominated by Case II waters. We propose to A) continue GNATS, coordinated ship and satellite measurements for another 3 years, B) provide monthly, regional estimates of the standing stock and production terms for the various particulate and dissolved carbon fractions based on satellite ocean color observations and C) perform a statistical comparison of photoadaptive parameters in the Mid-Atlantic Bight and GoM to examine how broadly we can extrapolate these results along the NE U.S. Continental Shelf. Deliverables of this work will be: ship-based quantification of the various components of the carbon cycle in the GoM (standing stocks of POC, PIC, DOC plus primary production/calcification rates), an improved DOC algorithm, tuning of satellite carbon algorithms for the NE Continental Shelf, and documentation of the long- term biogeochemical and ecological changes occurring in the GoM carbon cycle. Quantification of the variability in the composition and concentration of dissolved and particulate carbon over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales is the first step towards understanding the role of coastal ecosystems in the global carbon cycle.

[1] “This data was sourced from: RWSC_early-2025”

6.12 Maine Department of Marine Resources plankton and larval lobster survey

6.12.1 Project information

Lead entity: Maine Department of Marine Resources

Partner entities: Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, University of Maine, University of Southern Maine

PI name: Unknown

PI contact information:

Data start year: 2024

Data end year: 2030

Spatial scale: Project

6.12.2 Data information

Project link: https://www.maine.gov/dmr/node/1467

Data link: NA

Metadata link: NA

Data availability: No

Data categories: Plankton, Crustaceans

Data type: spatial

6.12.3 Project description

Vertical plankton tows goal: Understand baseline water conditions, stratification, and plankton community composition and distribution and determine if they change during and after turbine installation Horizontal neuston tows goal: To understand baseline larval lobster abundance and distribution and determine if it changes after turbine installation

[1] “This data was sourced from: RWSC_early-2025”

6.13 Maine eDNA

6.13.1 Project information

Lead entity: University of Maine

Partner entities: NA

PI name: Unknown

PI contact information: https://umaine.edu/edna/contact-us/

Data start year: 2020

Data end year: 2025

Spatial scale: State

6.13.2 Data information

Project link: https://umaine.edu/edna/

Data link: NA

Metadata link: NA

Data availability: No

Data categories: Sea turtles, Seabirds, Plankton, Marine mammals, Groundfish, Elasmobranchs, Pelagic fishes, Bathymetry

Data type: “research project, synthesis, or technology development”

6.13.3 Project description

Maine eDNA is a 5-year research, education, and outreach program that seeks to transform our understanding and sustainability of Maine’s coastal ecosystems via environmental DNA (eDNA) innovations that unlock new scales of inference and new scales of collaboration.

[1] “This data was sourced from: RWSC_early-2025”

6.14 NOAA Fisheries Northeast Fisheries Science Center passive acoustic monitoring in the Gulf of Maine

6.14.1 Project information

Lead entity: NOAA NEFSC

Partner entities: University of Maine, Maine DMR

PI name: Sofie Van Parijs

PI contact information:

Data start year: 2020

Data end year: 2026

Spatial scale: Gulf of Maine

6.14.2 Data information

Project link: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/new-england-mid-atlantic/endangered-species-conservation/passive-acoustic-research-atlantic-ocean

Data link: NA

Metadata link: NA

Data availability: No

Data categories: Acoustic, Marine mammals, Plankton, Groundfish

Data type: spatial

6.14.3 Project description

Researchers at NOAA Fisheries Northeast Fisheries Science Center monitor the waters of the Gulf of Maine using passive acoustic recorders that collect ambient sound data. These data are used to characterize soundscapes and detect the presence of species of interest, such as marine mammals, fish, and invertebrates. The current mooring designs include hydrophones to record ambient sound and VR2AR acoustic releases. No animals are currently being tagged within these monitoring efforts. Thus, all detections are of opportunity and hopefully will contribute valuable information to other researchers. Tagged protected fish will be detected on the receivers.

[1] “This data was sourced from: RWSC_early-2025”

6.15 Zooplankton Ecology of the Gulf of Maine

6.15.1 Project information

Lead entity: University of Maine

Partner entities: BOEM

PI name: Ian Slayton

PI contact information:

Data start year: 2019

Data end year: 2023

Spatial scale: Gulf of Maine

6.15.2 Data information

Project link: https://www.boem.gov/sites/default/files/documents/environment/environmental-studies/Zooplankton%20Ecology%20of%20the%20Gulf%20of%20Maine_0.pdf

Data link: NA

Metadata link: NA

Data availability: No

Data categories: Plankton

Data type: spatial

6.15.3 Project description

Vessel-based surveys in the Gulf of Maine collecting time series plankton data. This study builds upon the multiple years of baseline data collected previously by the Canadian Atlantic Zone Monitoring Program and the University of Maine/University of New Hampshire. Jeff Runge, University of Maine

[1] “This data was sourced from: RWSC_early-2025”

6.16 Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (OCCCI)

6.16.1 Project information

Lead entity: European Space Agency

Partner entities: Plymouth Marine Laboratory

PI name: Unknown

PI contact information:

Data start year: 1997

Data end year: Present

Spatial scale: Global

6.16.2 Data information

Project link: https://www.oceancolour.org/

Data link: https://www.oceancolour.org/browser/

Metadata link: NA

Data availability: Yes

Data categories: Physical oceanography, Plankton

Data type: spatial

6.16.3 Project description

The Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative project aims to:Develop and validate algorithms to meet the Ocean Colour GCOS ECV requirements for consistent, stable, error-characterized global satellite data products from multi-sensor data archives.Produce and validate, within an R&D context, the most complete and consistent possible time series of multi-sensor global satellite data products for climate research and modelling.Optimize the impact of MERIS data on climate data records.Generate complete specifications for an operational production system.Strengthen inter-disciplinary cooperation between international Earth observation, climate research and modelling communities, in pursuit of scientific excellence.The ESA OC CCI project is following a data reprocessing paradigm of regular re-processings utilising on-going research and developments in atmospheric correction, in-water algorithms, data merging techniques and bias correction. This requires flexibility and rapid turn-around of processing of extensive ocean colour datasets from a number of ESA and NASA missions to both trial new algorithms and methods and undertake the complete data set production.

6.17 GlobColour

6.17.1 Project information

Lead entity: ACRI-ST

Partner entities: NA

PI name: Unknown

PI contact information: Unknown

Data start year: 1997

Data end year: Present

Spatial scale: Global

6.17.2 Data information

Project link: https://hermes.acri.fr/

Data link: https://hermes.acri.fr/index.php?class=archive

Metadata link: NA

Data availability: Yes

Data categories: Physical oceanography, Plankton

Data type: spatial

6.17.3 Project description

The GlobColour data set provides a large set of Ocean Colour products:Parameters: Chlorophyll concentration, Secchi Disk Depth, and many more…Time coverage: from 1997 to present (Near Real Time + consolidated products)Time resolution: daily, weekly and monthly productsSpatial Coverage and resolution: Global at 4, 25 and 100 km, Europe at 1 km, and user-defined extraction zonesSensors: single sensor and merged products from SeaWiFS, MERIS, MODIS, VIIRS NPP, OLCI-A, VIIRS JPSS-1 and OLCI-B (OLCI-A/B and VIIRS JPSS-1 are not merged with other sensors for all parameters for the moment) The OSS2015 demonstration products further increase the range of available parameters:Chlorophyll concentration: new Color Index Algorithm from Hu et al. (2012)New bio-chemical products: Particle Organic Carbon, Particle Size Distribution…Time coverage: monthly merged products from 1997 to 2014Spatial Coverage and resolution: Global products at 25 km resolution, with user-defined extraction zones

6.18 SNPP-VIIRS (SST and CHL)

6.18.1 Project information

Lead entity: NASA

Partner entities: NOAA NESDIS

PI name: Yan Bai

PI contact information:

Data start year: 2012

Data end year: Present

Spatial scale: Global

6.18.2 Data information

Project link: https://ncc.nesdis.noaa.gov/VIIRS/

Data link: https://oceandata.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/l3/

Metadata link: NA

Data availability: Yes

Data categories: Physical oceanography, Plankton

Data type: spatial

6.18.3 Project description

The VIIRS instrument on board the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) provides continuity in operational Earth observations at moderate resolution following the heritage sensors. It supports studies of the physical and biological properties of land and ocean surfaces, and of cloud and aerosol properties. VIIRS is designed to provide moderate-resolution, radiometrically accurate images of the entire Earth twice daily. It is a wide-swath (3,040 km) instrument with spatial resolutions of 370m and 740m at nadir

6.19 Atlantic Herring Acoustic Surveys

6.19.1 Project information

Lead entity: NOAA NEFSC

Partner entities: NA

PI name: Michael Jech

PI contact information:

Data start year: 1998

Data end year: Present

Spatial scale: Northwest Atlantic

6.19.2 Data information

Project link: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/9025

Data link: https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/atlantic-herring-acoustic-surveys1

Metadata link: NA

Data availability: Yes

Data categories: Physical oceanography, Plankton

Data type: spatial

6.19.3 Project description

The NEFSC Advanced Sampling Technologies Research Group conducts annual fisheries acoustic surveys using state-of-the-art acoustic, midwater trawling, and underwater video technologies to improve fisheries-independent stock assessments for pelagic species. Pilot and experimental studies were conducted during 1995-97 to develop the NEFSC’s fisheries acoustic capabilities. Annual NEFSC Atlantic Herring Acoustic Surveys began in 1998. NEFSC acoustic capabilities include multifrequency EK60 echosounder data, Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP), and trawl monitoring systems. Midwater trawling, plankton sampling, and underwater video operations provide biological samples and target verification. CTD (conductivity-temperature-depth) vertical profiles are also routinely obtained during survey operations.

6.20 Copernicus Marine Data Store

6.20.1 Project information

Lead entity: Copernicus

Partner entities: Horizon 2020, EMODnet, EU4OceanObs

PI name: Unknown

PI contact information: https://marine.copernicus.eu/contact

Data start year: Unknown

Data end year: Present

Spatial scale: Global

6.20.2 Data information

Project link: https://data.marine.copernicus.eu/products?facets=areas%7EGlobal+Ocean

Data link:

Metadata link: NA

Data availability: Yes

Data categories: Physical oceanography, Plankton

Data type: spatial

6.20.3 Project description

The Copernicus Marine Service (or Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service) is the marine component of the Copernicus Programme of the European Union. It provides free, regular and systematic authoritative information on the state of the Blue (physical), White (sea ice) and Green (biogeochemical) ocean, on a global and regional scale. It is funded by the European Commission (EC) and implemented by Mercator Ocean International. It is designed to serve EU policies and International legal Commitments related to Ocean Governance, to cater for the needs of society at large for global ocean knowledge and to boost the Blue Economy across all maritime sectors by providing free-of-charge state-of-the-art ocean data and information.

6.21 Coastal Alexandrium catenella Cyst Abundance in the Gulf of Maine

6.21.1 Project information

Lead entity: NOAA NCCOS

Partner entities: NA

PI name: Unknown

PI contact information:

Data start year: 2003

Data end year: Present

Spatial scale: Gulf of Maine

6.21.3 Project description

Annual Alexandrium catenella blooms in the Gulf of Maine produce potent neurotoxins that accumulate in shellfish and cause Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) in human consumers. As part of its lifecycle, A. catenella form cysts, which are dormant cells that settle into the sediment and can later germinate, triggering harmful algal blooms. These blooms are monitored through an annual research cruise that collects data on cyst abundance. Figure 1 below shows the abundance of cysts in the top 1-cm sediment layer collected in October 2023 (cells/cm²).This dataset includes coastal station sites pulled from Figure 1, where Alexandrium catenella cyst samples were collected to track cyst abundance. In addition, it features model-simulated surface time series data for A. catenella, providing insight into bloom patterns and dynamics.Disclaimer: This result is for experimental use only. This data is currently being used for a Gulf of Maine Alexandrium catenella predictive model animation product only available on our developers website. Please visit the HAB Forecasting website for our public information. For questions please email .