Continue acquisition of long-term biological and physical time series. Recover and deploy moorings at FOCI site 2 and site 3. Deploy satellite-tracked drifting buoys.

Occupy hydrographic stations along SEBSCC's monitoring transects taking CTD, water bottle, bongo, and CalVET samples. Reoccupy stations at Moorings 2 & 3 to examine rate processes of nutrient dynamics, primary productivity, and zooplankton growth and development. Collect plankton samples for stable isotope determination Examine larval fish distribution along the Alaska Peninsula Conduct biological sampling in the project areas. Complete CTDs at Unimak Pass, the mooring locations and between the mooring sites.

The Southeast Alaska Coastal Monitoring (SECM) project in Alaska was initiated in 1997 by the Auke Bay Laboratory, National Marine Fisheries Service, to study the habitat use and early marine ecology of juvenile (age-0) Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) and associated epipelagic ichthyofauna. This research has been conducted to meet several needs identified in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries 2006-2011 Strategic Plan, the North Pacific Anadromous Fisheries Commission (NPAFC) 20062010 Science Plan, and the Gulf of Alaska Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics (GLOBEC) Program.

Examine the interactions among climate, weather, and the recruitment of fishes in the eastern Bering Sea. We will conduct ichthyoplankton and zooplankton surveys in the waters along the eastern Aleutian Island chain, the Alaska Peninsula, and the Pribilof Islands. This work is needed to describe larval fish assemblages and determine how physical and biological factors affect the transport and survival of fish larvae.

The primary objective of this cruise will be the recovery and deployment of moorings in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea.

The objectives of this cruise are to conduct an ichthyoplankton survey and process oriented studies in the region between Unimak Pass, the Shumagin Islands, and through Shelikof Strait to Kodiak Island, Alaska, so that we may estimate the abundance, transport, and factors influencing the survival of young walleye pollock larvae. We will also occupy stations on Line 8 to continue our 18-year time series of environmental and biological conditions in Shelikof Strait. In the event of high algal concentrations encountered at a survey station in the strait region and in the sea valley region, sampling will be conducted for a forage fish diet study.

Fisheries-Oceanography Coordinated Investigations (FOCI) is an effort by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and associated academic scientists. FOCI's goal is to understand the effects of abiotic and biotic variability on ecosystems of the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea in order to discern the physical and biological processes that determine recruitment variability of commercially valuable finfish and shellfish stocks in Alaskan waters. We will focus our efforts on the physical, chemical and biological processes occurring in particular areas of this region. These include: several troughs of differing size, banks, the area near Kennedy - Stevenson Entrances, as well as one of the large offshore eddies, that typically impact this area between April and July and contribute to on and offshore fluxes.

We will conduct an ichthyoplankton survey in the waters contiguous to Kodiak Island, Alaska. This work is needed to describe larval fish assemblages on the shelf and slope in winter, and to study the transport and early life history of larval fishes, particularly the feeding and zooplankton prey of capelin (Mallotus villosus) and Pacific sand lance (Ammodytes hexapterus). Data on physical characteristics of the water column will also be collected.

Single-beam bathymetry and gravity data along with DGPS navigation data was collected as part of field activity L-7-80-BS in Bering Sea, Alaska from 08/01/1980 to 08/26/1980, http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/infobank/l/l780bs/html/l-7-80-bs.meta.html These data are reformatted from space-delimited ASCII text files located in the Coastal and Marine Geology Program (CMGP) InfoBank field activity catalog at http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/infobank/l/l780bs/html/l-7-80-bs.bath.html and http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/infobank/l/l780bs/html/l-7-80-bs.grav.html into MGD77T format provided by the NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center(NGDC). The MGD77T format includes a header (documentation) file (.h77t) and a data file (.m77t). More information regarding this format can be found in the publication listed in the Cross_reference section of this metadata file.

The primary objective is to better understand geographic variation in the productivity of fishes in the western Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This cruise will focus on the geographic distribution and size of age-0 walleye pollock and other small pelagic fishes in relation to the zooplankton on which they feed, and physical oceanography.