Project Information

Title: LTM Program: Long-term Monitoring of Oceanographic Conditions in Cook Inlet/Kachemak Bay, Alaska 18120114-J

Project Year and Number: 2018: 18120114-J

Other Fiscal Years and Numbers for this Project: 2021: 21120114-J, 2020: 20120114-J, 2019: 19120114-J, 2017: 17120114-J, 2016: 16120114-G, 2015: 15120114-G, 2013: 13120114-G, 2012: 12120114-G

Principal Investigator (PI): Kris Holderied (NOAA), Jessica Shepherd (Kachemak Bay Research Reserve)

Managing Agency: NOAA

Assisting Personnel: None

Project Website: https://gulfwatchalaska.org/monitoring/environmental-drivers/oceanographic-conditions-in-lower-cook-inlet-and-kachemak-bay/

Research Location: Kachemak Bay, Cook Inlet

Restoration Category: Monitoring

Injured Resources Addressed: Not Specified

Abstract:

The Cook Inlet/Kachemak Bay monitoring project provides year-round, high temporal resolution oceanographic and plankton data to assess the effects of seasonal and inter-annual oceanographic variability on nearshore and pelagic species injured by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. We continue a 6-year time-series of shipboard oceanography surveys along the estuarine gradient from Kachemak Bay into southeast Cook Inlet, as well as a 16-year time series of continuous nearshore water quality station observations in Kachemak Bay. Shipboard surveys are conducted on repeated transects monthly in Kachemak Bay, seasonally in southeast Cook Inlet and annually across the Cook Inlet entrance. Shipboard sampling includes conductivity-temperature-depth casts (including fluorescence, turbidity, and dissolved oxygen), phytoplankton, and zooplankton. The project provides oceanographic data to support Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA) nearshore component monitoring in Kachemak Bay and important environmental driver information downstream of other GWA components. By sampling across Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet and the northern Gulf of Alaska shelf, in connection with other GWA Environmental Drivers component projects, we strengthen the ability of the GWA program to evaluate local (within estuary) and remote (shelf, North Pacific) climate forcing effects on nearshore ecosystems. Recent results show that during 2014-2016: 1) water temperatures were warmer than average throughout the water column and fresher below the pycnocline - consistent with the upper 100m of the water column at GAK1, but different from the lower water column, with warm water possibly contributing to sea star declines observed by the nearshore sampling team; 2) increased blooms of Alexandrium phytoplankton species caused paralytic shellfish poisoning events in Kachemak Bay which may have contributed to marine mammal and seabird mortalities; and 3) abundances of warm water zooplankton species increased relative to 2012-2013. We are not proposing any major changes to this project in FY18.


Proposal: View (1,637 KB)

Reports:
Annual Report FY18: View (5,506 KB)
Final Report: See Project 21120114-J

Publications from this Project: None Available