Characterization of Zooplankton Community and Size Composition in Relation to Hydrography and Circulation in the Sea of Japan

Abstract

The northern and southern Japan Sea are hydrographically and biologically distinct, with the southern portion being more tropical/oligotrophic and the northern portion being more boreal/eutrophic. The plankton of the Japan Sea remains poorly understood, particularly with regard to high-resolution description of the distribution of planktonic taxa and environmental conditions. We described the taxonomic and size composition of the zooplankton community and associated hydrography of the JES during the summer of 1999 using the Video Plankton Recorder (VPR), surveying over both the northern and southern regions, the Subpolar Front between, and the Ulleung Basin. The VPR was towyoed between the near-surface and 80 m for over 240 hours and 3500 km., collecting over 600,000 images of plankton, and coincident hydrography. The distributions of identified taxa and hydrographic characteristics were plotted in near-real time at sea. Plankton also were collected at 15 selected stations using a ring net, for silhouette analysis of taxa and size.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 21, 2001
Accession Number
ADA394477

Entities

People

  • Cabell Davis
  • Carin Ashjian
  • Scott Gallager

Organizations

  • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Backscattering
  • Communities
  • High Resolution
  • Hydrography
  • Images
  • Intensity
  • Japan Sea
  • Light Scattering
  • Magnification
  • Measurement
  • Oceanography
  • Optical Properties
  • Physical Properties
  • Plankton
  • Underwater Acoustics
  • Video Images
  • Zooplankton

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Oceanography.