Scientific Cruises
CCGS Hudson - Spring 2003
LOPC & OPC Intercomparisons and Variability Studies.
Recently the LOPC was deployed on a research program of Alex Herman and
Michel Mitchell (Bedford Institute of Oceanography, DFO), the Atlantic Zone
Monitoring Program (AZMP).
The study consisted of 2 parts:
- a standard survey of Scotian Shelf transects using the LOPC mounted on a Moving Vessel
Profiler (MVP), and,
- a zooplankton variabiity study on a fixed station along
the Halifax Line.
In the latter case, Stn. 2 along the Halifax Line which is
easily accessible by a launch out of BIO, is sampled bi-weekly with net
tows. Given that there is strong advection along our coastal waters, what is
the impact of advected water through the station on spatial/temporal
variability of our zooplankton measurements? In other words, if we sampled
Stn. 2 tomorrow instead of today, would the zooplankton numbers and biomass
vary to any signigicant extent?
To accomplish this, an LOPC & OPC were
mounted on a CTD profiling frame (see photo) and profiles (10) were sampled
along a line parallel to the NS Current and passing through Stn. 2. It was
assumed that the time taken to collect all profiles would be less than the
influence of advection. Also by mounting both LOPC & OPC together, the
simultaneous profiles would permit intercomparison of the overlap of the
measured size distributions.
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