Lower Cook Inlet/Kachemak Bay Oceanographic & Ecosystem - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Lower Cook Inlet/Kachemak Bay Oceanographic & Ecosystem Surveys

Kachemak Bay Water Temperature from KBRR long-term SWMP station in Seldovia

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 29.5 30 30.5 31 31.5 32 Temperature ( C) Depth (m) Salinity (PSU) Salinity (PSU)

CTD Data Examples 25 June 2012

Middle of Spit Line Tutka Bay

Kasitsna Bay Lab 2012 Phytoplankton Monitoring Alexandrium spp.

Courtesy: Charlayna Cammarata NOAA Hollings scholar

Monitoring Temporal and Spatial Trends in Lower Cook Inlet and Kachemak Bay Waters to Inform Understanding of Ecological Processes

The Big Idea

Primary Goal:

The primary goal is to continue monitoring long-term data trends in plankton and sea water attributes which link the

• uter Gulf of Alaska with the inshore waters in Kachemak

Bay and relate these patterns to primary productivity.

– This project is linked to 26 other major studies of the ecosystem in the Gulf of Alaska, Kenai Peninsula and Prince William Sound

Background Information

The Kachemak Bay Research Reserve is studying trends in ocean temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, and chlorophyll fluorescence in the NERR water quality monitoring program at three sites in Kachemak Bay. Measurements at these fixed locations are augmented spatially by replicating CTD transects across the Bay (2 transects) and in lower Cook Inlet (3 transects)

Kachemak Bay and Lower Cook Inlet CTD/Plankton Sampling Sites

Copepod 17% Copepod 11% Copepod 6% Copepod 1% Copepod 0% Copepod 0% Unk Egg 9% Crustaean larve 8% Barnacle larve 1% Evadne 0% Euphausid 2% Crustaean larve 1% Polychaete 2% Tunicate larve 0% Arrow worm 13% Polychaete larve 23% Sea butterfly 7% Bivalve 0%

Station25

Copepod 16% Copepod 26% Copepod 1% Copepod 0% Copepod 3% Copepod 1% Unk Egg 0% Crustaean larve 33% Barnacle larve 8% Evadne 3% Euphausid 7% Crustaean larve 0% Polychaete 0% Tunicate larve 0% Arrow worm 0% Polychaete larve 0%

Station11

Copepod 25% Copepod 1% Copepod 25% Copepod 11% Copepod 1% Copepod 0% Unk Egg 14% Crustaean larve 6% Barnacle larve 7% Evadne 0% Euphausid 7% Crustaean larve 1% Polychaete 0% Tunicate larve 1% Arrow worm 0% Polychaete larve 0% Sea butterfly 1% Bivalve 0% Copepod 0%

Station5

Copepod 5% Copepod 19% Copepod 0% Copepod 1% Copepod 1% Copepod 0% Copepod 0% Copepod 0% Unk Egg 27% Unk Nauplii 1% Barnacle nauplii 27% Unk fish egg 1% Polychaete 3% Shrimp zoea 4% Crab zoea 4% Trochozoan 4% Sea butterfly 0% Hydrozoan 0% Echinoderm larve 0% Fritillaria borealis 0% Hydrozoan 0% Gadid larvae 0% Bryozoan 0% Euphausid 2% Bivalve 0% Hydriods 0% Hydriods 0% Arrow worm 0% Copepod 0% Crustacea 0%

Zooplankton Transect 9 Station 1

Copepod 8% Copepod 2% Copepod 2% Copepod 1% Copepod 0% Copepod 0% Copepod 0% Copepod 0% Copepod 0% Copepod 0% Copepod 0% Unk Egg 63% Unk Nauplii 0% Barnacle nauplii 11% Unk zoea 1% Arrow worm 1% Unk fish egg 4% Polychaete 1% Gammarid amphipod 1% Sea butterfly 2% Bivalve 0% Amphipod 0% Polychaete larve 1% Hydriods 0% Hydrozoan 0% Isopod 0% Tunicate larve 0% Clam larvae 0%

Zooplankton Transect 9 Station 10

Copepod 6% Copepod 2% Copepod 2% Copepod 0% Copepod 0% Copepod 0% Unk Egg 45% Unk Nauplii 1% Barnacle nauplii 27% Fish Egg 5% Sea butterfly 6% Echinoderm larve 0% Polychaete 1% Shrimp zoea 0% Crab zoea 1% Arrow worm 1% Gammarid amphipod 0% Bivalve 1% Polychaete larve 0% Hydrozoan 1% Clam larvae 0%

Zooplankton Transence 9 Station 6

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Migratory Bird Management At Sea Observer Program. Maps provided by L. Labunski and K. Kuletz

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Migratory Bird Management At Sea Observer Program. Maps provided by L. Labunski and K. Kuletz

Steps Along the Way

• Develop a library of

common plankton species for the region

• Refine plankton

sampling locations based on CTD sampling

• Assess the temporal

patterns for plankton blooms in Kachemak Bay and lower Cook Inlet