Project Information

Title: LTM Program: Long-term monitoring of oceanographic conditions in Prince William Sound 19120114-G

Project Year and Number: 2019: 19120114-G

Other Fiscal Years and Numbers for this Project: 2024: 24120114-G , 2023: 23120114-G , 2022: 22120114-G , 2021: 21120114-G, 2020: 20120114-G, 2018: 18120114-G, 2017: 17120114-G, 2016: 16120114-E, 2015: 15120114-E, 2014: 14120114-E, 2013: 13120114-E, 2012: 12120114-E

Principal Investigator (PI): Rob Campbell (Prince William Sound Science Center)

Managing Agency: NOAA

Assisting Personnel: None

Project Website: https://gulfwatchalaska.org/monitoring/environmental-drivers/oceanographic-conditions-in-prince-william-sound/

Research Location: Prince William Sound

Restoration Category: Monitoring

Injured Resources Addressed: Not Specified

Abstract:

This project will continue physical and biological measurements to assess trends in the marine environment and bottom-up impacts on the marine ecosystem of Prince William Sound (PWS). Regular (~6 per year) vessel-based surveys of PWS will be conducted to maintain ongoing time series observations of physical (temperature, salinity, turbidity), biogeochemical (nitrate, phosphate, silicate, dissolved oxygen), and biological (chlorophyll-a concentration, zooplankton abundance and composition) parameters in several parts of PWS. Sampling sites include central PWS, the entrances (Hinchinbrook Entrance and Montague Strait), and four priority bays that were part of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council (EVOSTC)-funded Sound Ecosystem Assessment (SEA) project in the 1990s and the ongoing Herring Research and Monitoring project. Additionally, an autonomous profiling mooring will be deployed in central PWS to provide high frequency (twice daily) depth-specific measurements of the surface layer that will be telemetered out in near real-time. The profiler will include measurements that complement the survey activities (temperature, salinity, oxygen, nitrate, chlorophyll-a, turbidity). An in situ plankton camera was recently developed for the profiler and will be used to enumerate zooplankton, large phytoplankton and other particles, with some taxonomic discrimination. FY18 spring and early summer observations in PWS indicate the spring bloom was about on time, the surface layer water temperature was above average but trending towards the climatology. Some warm water copepod (southern species) are still present. We are not proposing any major changes to this project for FY19.


Proposal: View (948 KB)

Reports:
Annual Report FY19: View (2,555 KB)
Final Report: See Project 21120114-G

Publications from this Project: None Available