Zooplankton data are abundance by taxanomic group (to species where possible), stage, size and sex. Zooplankton sorting is performed at The Polish Plankton Sorting Institute in Szcecin, Poland. The zooplankton protocol was changed in 2012 to include a wider range of taxaonomic categories for all study areas and to finer taxanomic resolution where possible. Limited biomass information is available using literature values for micrograms carbon of select copepod species. Various gears with different mesh sizes are used to asses different size classes of zooplankton including 20/60cm paired bongos, Tucker, Multinet, MOCNESS, Methot, CalVET and microzooplankton nets hung on nisken bottles.

Otolith data are collected to measure age and growth of larval pollock. They are used to determine whether growth rate, hatch data and/or temperature influence fish size.

The Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) Recruitment Processes Program, which includes Ecosystem and Fisheries-Oceanography Coordinated Investigations (EcoFOCI) has conducted oceanographical and biological research surveys in the U.S. west coastal area, Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea in 1972, and yearly from 1977 - present. Samples collected at sea include ichthyoplankton, zooplankton, juvenile fish, measurements of temperature and salinity along with nutrients and chlorophyll. Lab processed data include fish diet data and fish otolith data.

These data are part of a ocean observation study by Stabeno, Napp, and Whitledge sponsored, in part, by the North Pacific Research Board (Project 410; http://doc.nprb.org). The grant was titled "Long-term observations on the Bering Sea shelf (2004-2005): biophysical moorings at sites 2 and 4 as sentinels for ecosystem change." Moorings were maintained on the southeastern Bering Sea shelf at M2 (56.9B0N, 164.1B0W), and at M4 (57.9B0N, 168.9B0W). Shipboard measurements of temperature, salinity, nutrients, chlorophyll, fluorescence and zooplankton were collected around the moorings on two cruises (3MF04 - April 2004 and 8MF04 - September 2004) to ground truth in situ sensors on the moorings. This long-term monitoring supported major findings: (1) The timing of the spring phytoplankton bloom is determined by the presence of ice, with an early bloom occurring if ice is present after mid-March and later bloom occurring if there is no sea-ice after mid-March; (2) During the last decade, the southeastern Bering Sea shelf has undergone a marked warming (~3B0C) that is closely associated with a marked decrease of sea ice over the southeastern shelf; (3) Nutrients supply and summer salinity over the shelf has not significantly changed during the last three decades; (4) There is an indication that cold water zooplankton species (e.g Calanus marshallae ) are occurring in reduced abundance in association with the warming. While the warming over the southeastern shelf is primarily related to the reduction of ice extent, a combination of other mechanisms are important: the presence over the eastern shelf of a relatively mild air mass during winter since 2000; a shorter ice season caused by a later fall transition and/or earlier spring transition; increased flow through Unimak Pass during winter introducing warm Gulf of Alaska water onto the shelf; and a thermal feedback mechanism whereby warmer, summer ocean temperatures delay the southward advection of sea ice during winter.

These data are part of a ocean observation study by Stabeno, Napp, and Whitledge sponsored, in part, by the North Pacific Research Board (Project 517; http://doc.nprb.org). The grant was titled "Sentinels for Bering Sea ecosystem change." Moorings have been maintained on the southeastern Bering Sea shelf at four sites: M2 (56.9B0N, 164.1B0W) since 1995, M4 (57.9B0N, 168.9B0W) since 1996; M5 (59.9B0N, 171.7B0W) and; M8 (62.2B0N 174.7B0W) since 2004. Shipboard measurements of temperature, salinity, nutrients, chlorophyll, fluorescence and zooplankton were collected around the moorings and along the 70-m isobath on 3 cruises (3MF05, 16 April b?? 7 May; 3TT05, May 12 - 28; 8MF05, 21 September b?? 4 October) to groundtruth the in situ sensors on the moorings. This long-term monitoring supports major findings: (1) Over the southeastern shelf, the timing of the spring phytoplankton bloom is determined by the presence of ice, with an early bloom occurring if ice is present after mid-March and a later bloom if there is no sea-ice after mid-March; (2) during 2001-2005, the southeastern Bering Sea shelf underwent a marked warming (~3B0C) that was closely associated with a decrease of sea ice; with shifts in the atmospheric forcing, colder conditions returned to the Bering Sea shelf in the winter 2006 and continued into winter/spring 2007; (3) nutrients supply and summer salinity over the shelf has not significantly changed during the last three decades; (4) in association with the warming there is an indication that the abundance of cold-water zooplankton species (e.g. Calanus marshallae ) has been reduced; (5) from hydrography collected in May and September 2005 along the 70 m isobath starting at M2 in the south and ending at M8 in the north, it is evident that the structure of southern shelf is dominated by temperature, while the northern shelf is dominated by salinity. In addition, the location of the boundary between the southern shelf and northern shelf appears to vary from one year to the next and is mainly, but not completely dependent upon maximum ice extent during the spring.

A total of 64 stations were occupied along onshore-offshore transect lines from the Bering Strait to Barrow Canyon. At each station we sampled zooplankton using a 1m^2 Tucker Sled with 333 micron mesh nets. One net was fished entirely along the bottom. The second net collected zooplankton from the bottom to the surface. Inside this second net was a 150 micron mesh, 25 cm diamter Clarke-Bumpus net to collect the smaller zooplankton species. Both Tucker nets had a calibrated General Oceanics flow meter mounted inside the net mouth. A SeaBird FastCat (SBE 49) was attached to the top of the Tucker Sled to determine the depth of the samplers in real time and to measure temperature and conductivity. A multi-frequecy acoustic systems (TAPS-6) was also mounted on the top of the sled frame for acoustic determination of zooplankton biomass and size composition. The device insonified a small volume directly in the path of the net. During the cruise we recovered a multi-frequency acoustic device that had been moored off of Icy Cape for almost one year and then deployed two more acoustic devices to overwinter.

A total of 105 stations were occupied. There were two sample grids (southeast Alaska and Yakutat Bay) and two transects in the vicinity of Kayak Island. At each station we sampled using paired 20 and 60 cm Bongo frames (150 and 500 micron mesh nets, respectively) and a Sameoto neuston sampler (500 micron mesh net) to estimate the abundance of zoo- and ichthyoplankton. A SeaBird SeaCat (SBE 19 plus) was used with the bongo frames to determine the depth of the samplers in real time and to measure temperature and conductivity. At a few selected stations depth-stratified plankton were obtained with a 1 meter squared MOCNESS (500 micron mesh nets) and at other selected stations microzooplankton were sampled with vertical tows of a CalVET net (53 micron mesh).

A total of 105 stations were occupied. There were two sample grids (southeast Alaska and Yakutat Bay) and two transects in the vicinity of Kayak Island. At each station we sampled using paired 20 and 60 cm Bongo frames (150 and 500 micron mesh nets, respectively) and a Sameoto neuston sampler (500 micron mesh net) to estimate the abundance of zoo- and ichthyoplankton. A SeaBird SeaCat (SBE 19 plus) was used with the bongo frames to determine the depth of the samplers in real time and to measure temperature and conductivity. At a few selected stations depth-stratified plankton were obtained with a 1 meter squared MOCNESS (500 micron mesh nets) and at other selected stations microzooplankton were sampled with vertical tows of a CalVET net (53 micron mesh).

These data are part of an ocean observation study by Stabeno, Napp, and Whitledge sponsored, in part, by the North Pacific Research Board (Project 602; http://doc.nprb.org). The grant was titled "Sentinels for Bering Sea ecosystem change." Moorings have been maintained on the southeastern Bering Sea shelf at four sites: M2 (56.9B0N, 164.1B0W) since 1995, M4 (57.9B0N, 168.9B0W) since 1996; M5 (59.9B0N, 171.7B0W) and; M8 (62.2B0N 174.7B0W) since 2004. Shipboard measurements of temperature, salinity, nutrients, chlorophyll, fluorescence and zooplankton were collected around the moorings and along the 70-m isobath on 2 cruises (2MF06, 12 April b?? 6 May; 7MF06, 25 September b?? 10 October) to groundtruth the in situ sensors on the moorings and to learn the factors that distinguish the upper water column of the central and southeastern middle shelf.

A total of 70 stations were occupied. The standard FOCI grid and line 8 were samped. At each station we sampled using paired 20 and 60 cm Bongo frames (150 and 500 micron mesh nets, respectively). A SeaBird SeaCat (SBE 19 plus) was used with the bongo frames to determine the depth of the samplers in real time and to measure temperature and conductivity. On line 8 CTD casts were also taken. We left Dutch Harbor at 2300 on May 31 (GMT time) and arrived at our first grid station, GV147, at approximately 0500 on June 2. The deployment and retrieval of both the 60 cm bongo and the neuston gear were successful until the weather conditions became too severe to continue sampling our planned grid stations on the evening of June 2 after station 13 (HH151) was completed. Operations were resumed at GV151 on June 4 at 0200 until another storm made sampling conditions difficult after station 55 (HD 165) on June 7 at 0330. We waited in Alitak Bay on the south end of Kodiak Island to resume sampling. Since so much sampling time had already been lost due to weather, it was decided to abandon the rest of the planned grid stations below Shelikof Strait and steam to Line 8 and resume sampling there. We arrived at the first Line 8 station and began sampling at 2230 on June 7. After all six of the Line 8 stations were completed, we resumed sampling at designated grid stations until it was necessary to head into port on June 9.