Continuous Plankton Recorder sampling off the east coast of North America: history and status

Abstract

The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey has sampled plankton on 14 routes off the coasts of the northeast United States and Canada between 1959 and 2000. Six of these routes are still operating and are sampled on a monthly basis. Some 2047 CPR tows have been made to the end of 2000 and the resulting database represents the most extensive time series of marine plankton available anywhere in the northwest Atlantic. The location and time span of coverage of each route is presented. In addition selected information is presented on: 1. zooplankton abundance as departures from baselines for the northeast US continental shelf; 2. interannual variation in seasonality of Gulf of Maine phytoplankton; 3. zooplankton relationships to local hydrography of the Gulf of Maine and to the North Atlantic Oscillation; 4. time-space matrices of zooplankton abundance and anomalies southeast of New York City; 5. time series of phyto- and zooplankton on the Scotian Shelf; 6. seasonal cycles of Phytoplankton Colour and of zooplankton on the Scotian Shelf and Georges Bank, and in the Gulf of Maine; and 7. monthly abundance of zooplankton in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island.