Muestreo de Zooplancton mediante redes tipo WP2 y contador óptico de plancton (OPC): aplicación al estudio del ciclo estacional del zooplancton en el Cantábrico Central

Consejería de Educación y Cultura del Principado de Asturia

Intrusions of warm and salty waters onto the NW and N Iberian shelf in early spring and its relationship to climate variability

Temperature and salinity data from a series of cruises carried out on the NW and N Iberian shelf, between 1987 and 2005 during early spring, were analysed to investigate the inter-annual variability of the intrusions of warm and salty waters into the Cantabrian Sea, and its relationship with the meridional sea surface temperature (SST) gradient in the NE Atlantic and the main modes of climate variability affecting the Northern Hemisphere. A sub-surface front, that separates warmer and saltier (i.e. spicy) waters in the westernmost part of the Iberian shelf from the colder and fresher waters, characteristic of the easternmost part of the southern Bay of Biscay, was observed in all the analysed years. The location of this sub-surface front, which defines the limit of the influence of the Subtropical mode of Eastern North Atlantic Central Water (ENACWst) advected by the Iberian Poleward Current (IPC), varied approximately between Finisterre Cape (43ºN, 9ºW) and Penñas Cape (43.5ºN, 6ºW), being located on average around the Ortegal Cape (43.5ºN, 8ºW). Its position, alongshore the Southern Bay of Biscay shelf, is displaced westward as the spring season progresses, and showed a positive correlation with the summer–autumn (July–October, JASO) meridional SST gradient (measured between 36º N 15º W and 46º N 15º W) of the previous year. This gradient was in turn correlated with the values of the Eastern Atlantic (EA) climate index for the same period.FICY

Biomasa y estructura de la comunidad del mesozooplancton, en la plataforma continental del NO N de la Península Ibérica, durante las transiciones invierno primavera de 2002 y 2003

Estudio de la estructura de tamaños del mesozooplancton en el N y NO de la Peninsula Iberica durante las transiciones de primavera del 2002 y 2003Consejería de Educación y Cultura del Principado de Asturia

Hydrographic conditions and mesozooplankton species distribution in the Bay of Biscay shelf during spring 2004

Mesozooplankton community structure on the southern Bay of Biscay shelf and its relationship with environmental conditions was analysed during spring 2004. According to thermohaline characteristics, we observed two frontal zones along the shelf (around 7° and 3°W) that gave rise to three distinct hydrographic regions. The westernmost part of the shelf (WC), defined by the presence of relatively warm and salty water related to the presence of the Iberian Poleward Current (IPC), the easternmost region (EC), characterised by colder and fresher water, and a region in the Central Cantabrian Sea (CC) with thermohaline characteristics in between these two extremes. Besides, a clear coastal-offshore pattern was found in relation to the mixed layer depth (MLD). We observed a good agreement between the aforesaid hydrographic regions and the distribution of zooplankton species. In the WC region, the community structure was dominated by Paracalanus parvus, Oithona helgolandica, Acartia clausii and Clausocalanus pergens, while in the EC region the most dominant species were Noctiluca scintillans and Oncaea media. The CC region showed similar composition of copepods than the WC region but larvaceans (Oikopleura and Fritilaria) were also abundant. Superimposed to this along-shelf pattern, relative abundances differed also between coastal and shelf stations.SARDYN EU –project (QLRT-2001-00818

Mesozooplankton species distribution in the NW and N Iberian shelf during spring 2004: Relationship with frontal structures.

We have analysed the mesozooplankton community structure in the southern Bay of Biscay shelf and its relationship with the hydrographic conditions during spring 2004. According to thermohaline characteristics, we observed two frontal zones of distinct origin along the shelf (around 7° and 3°W), that allowed us to differentiate three different hydrographic domains. The westernmost part of the shelf (WC), defined by the presence of relatively warm and salty water related to the presence of the Iberian Poleward Current (IPC), the easternmost region (EC), characterized by colder and fresher water and subject to the influence of freshwater inputs from the Adour river in the French coast, and a region in the Central Cantabrian Sea (CC), where thermohaline characteristics were intermediate between these two extremes. The mixing layer depth (MLD) regime in these areas was also different: theWCregion was characterized by a mixed water column, whereas in the EC region the river discharges produces stratification of the upper meters of the water column (b10 m); in the CC region, we found a distinct vertical mixing regime that separated coastal (stratification) from shelf (mixed water column) stations, giving rise to a notorious across-shelf front. We found a good match between the aforesaid hydrographic regions and the distribution of mesozooplankton species composition and community assemblages: the Mantel correlation between physical variables and mesozooplankton distribution was highly significant (n=63, r=0.70, αb0.001). In the WC region, the community was dominated by Paracalanus parvus, Oithona helgolandica, Acartia clausi and Clausocalanus pergens, while in the EC region the most dominant species were Noctiluca scintillans, Oncaea media and Temora longicornis. The CC region showed similar composition of copepods than the WC region, but larvaceans (Oikopleura spp. and Fritillaria spp.) were more abundant in the CC region than in the WC region. Within each zone, the relative abundances of the dominant species differed between coastal and shelf locations.SARDYN EUproject (QLRT-2001-00818) Consejería de Educación y Cultura del Principado de Asturias’ (FICYT)

Simplifying quality control and standardization of CTD data under SeaDataNet requirements

Sharing marine data through SeaDataNet infrastructure ensures preservation and promotes reusability. Submission of data to this infrastructure demands a set of technical tasks that cover quality control processing, adoption of common vocabularies, implement le format standards and preparation of associated metadata. Although common software tools are made available to Data Centres and/or End Users to facilitate data and metadata preparation, these tasks continuous to be complex and time-consuming. To speed-up this process, a Python-Flask web application is presented here to quality check and create metadata and data according to SeaDataNet requirements. The web tool focuses on CTD vertical pro les, although code could be easily adapted to process other type of records

An all-in-one web tool to apply CTD quality control, format data, and generate metadata under SeaDataNet criteria

Professional data centres of the Pan-European region active in marine data collection, in particular National Oceanographic Data Centres (NODCs), routinely share diverse datasets through SeaDataNet, a distributed Marine Data Infrastructure. This network provides on-line integrated databases of standardized quality. Sharing marine data through SeaDataNet is an optimal way of ensuring FAIR principles: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. However, submission of data to this infrastructure demands a set of technical tasks that cover quality control processing, adoption of common vocabularies, implement file format standards and preparation of associated metadata. Although common software tools are made available to NODCs to facilitate data and metadata preparation (see https://www.seadatanet.org/Software) these tasks continuous to be complex and time-consuming. For example, the technician must use MIKADO software to generate INSPIRE-complaint metadata and adopt SeaDataNet Common Vocabularies; NEMO software to transform the original file to a common data transport format; and OCTOPUS software to check the compliance of a file. Additional software must be used to quality check and properly flag each individual record.En prens

Spring influence of the Iberian Poleward Current into the Bay of Biscay from 1987 to 2006

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