Project Information

Title: LTM Program: Long-term Monitoring of Oceanographic Conditions in Cook Inlet/Kachemak Bay, Alaska 20120114-J

Project Year and Number: 2020: 20120114-J

Other Fiscal Years and Numbers for this Project: 2021: 21120114-J, 2019: 19120114-J, 2018: 18120114-J, 2017: 17120114-J, 2016: 16120114-G, 2015: 15120114-G, 2013: 13120114-G, 2012: 12120114-G

Principal Investigator (PI): Steve Baird (Kachemak Bay Research Reserve), Kris Holderied (NOAA)

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 community data to assess the effects of seasonal and inter-annual oceanographic variability on nearshore and pelagic species affected by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. We continue an 8-year time-series of year round, monthly shipboard oceanography surveys along the estuarine gradient from Kachemak Bay into southeast Cook Inlet, as well as an 18-year time series of continuous nearshore water quality station observations in Kachemak Bay. Shipboard sampling includes conductivity-temperature-vs-depth casts, and phytoplankton and zooplankton net tows. Outputs from the project include seasonally resolved patterns and interannual shifts in oceanography, plankton abundance and community composition, and occurrences of harmful algal species. The project provides oceanographic and plankton data to support the GWA Nearshore Component in Kachemak Bay and provides year-round information on estuary-shelf oceanographic gradients to help evaluate the effects of local (within estuary) and remote (shelf, North Pacific) climate forcing on nearshore and pelagic ecosystems. Results show that: 1) water temperatures in 2018 were close to long-term averages through summer, then warmed above average in early fall and remained anomalously warm through July 2019 (up to 2 degrees C above average); 2) Kachemak Bay zooplankton community composition in summer 2017 returned to patterns observed in 2012-2015; and 3) abundances of the phytoplankton species that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning were surprisingly low in September 2018, despite warm conditions, but increases in these toxic species and in shellfish toxicity were observed in July 2019. No proposed project changes for FY20.


Proposal: View (3,214 KB)

Reports:
Annual Report: View (1,819 KB)
Final Report: See Project 21120114-J

Publications from this Project: None Available