Project Information

Title: LTM Program: Monitoring of oceanographic conditions in Prince William Sound 21120114-G

Project Year and Number: 2021: 21120114-G

Other Fiscal Years and Numbers for this Project: 2024: 24120114-G , 2023: 23120114-G , 2022: 22120114-G , 2020: 20120114-G, 2019: 19120114-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): Robert 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-funded Sound Ecosystem Assessment 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 is used to enumerate zooplankton, large phytoplankton and other particles, with some taxonomic discrimination.

Spring and early summer observations in PWS indicate the timing of the spring bloom was near the climatological average and is continuing a trend towards lower productivity over time – satellite chlorophyll observations in spring 2020 have been the lowest in the 23-year record. Following a winter of temperatures near the climatological average, the surface layer in central PWS returned to above average temperatures in 2020, to approximately the same levels as during the marine heatwave of 2013-2016. COVID-19 impacts to this project were delays to one survey (spring bloom cruise) and sample analyses in the laboratory. The remaining cruises in 2020 should proceed as planned. We are not proposing any major changes to this project for FY21.


Proposal: View (2,985 KB)

Reports:
FY17-21 Final Report: View (4,279 KB)
FY17-21 Final Report Appendix A: View (2,801 KB)
FY17-21 Final Report Appendix B: View (1,910 KB)

Publications from this Project: None Available