CalCOFI 0903FR Cruise Prospectus (cruise announcement pdf)

• Current survey data & egg maps
• Loading Days: 14 - 15 Apr 2009, F/V Frosti at San Francisco
• Depart San Francisco on F/V Frosti 16 Apr 2009
• Offloads in San Diego 9 May 2009
• Station Plan: 38 central & northern CalCOFI stations are scheduled plus transects/stations in between standard lines occupied on 0903JD 
• Number of Scientific Party: 6 scientists & technicians

• Instructions for Completing the NOAA Health Services Questionaire (PDF)
  
• NOAA Health Services Questionnaire (NHSQ) Decision Memorandum (PDF)
  
• Tuberculosis Policy Decision Memorandum (PDF)
• Everything you always wanted to know about TB (PDF)

Send the completed form to:

CDR Michelle Pelkey, USPHS

• CalCOFI 0911NM: 6 - 23 Nov 2009 SIO RV New Horizon; Fall survey: lines 93.3 to 76.7; CalCOFI 0911NM sailed from San Diego on SIO RV New Horizon at 0800 6 Nov 2009. The expedition returned to San Diego at 1500 23 Nov 2009 after successfully occupying all 75 scheduled stations, in spite of frequently rough conditons.
  
• CalCOFI 0907M2: 14 Jul - 5 Aug 2009 on NOAA RV McArthur II; final announcement; please note that loading will start Sunday 12 Jul since the arrival is scheduled for late Sat evening.
  • Required form: Health Questionnaire & recent TB test required; Instructions on how to fill it out (pdf)
• CalCOFI 0903JD: 7 - 24 Mar 2009, 75 southern stations on NOAA RV David Starr Jordan; Prospectus

• CalCOFI/Sardine Cruise 0903FR: 16 Apr - 09 May 2009.  Trawling, CUFES, & CTDs from San Francisco to San Diego on FV Frosti; occupying northern lines 60.0-73.3 and transects between southern lines 76.7-93.3;
  • Maps of egg & trawl data;
  • Prospectus (pdf).;

• CalCOFI 0901NM: 7 - 25 Jan 2009 on SIO RV New Horizon ( Prospectus).  Loading and setup days: Jan 2, 5, 6 (Dec preload, with approval). Contacts at SIO: Dave Wolgast or James Wilkinson or at SWFSC: Dave Griffith or Amy Hays for additional info or requests.  All participants should submit the following forms to David Wolgast:

Scientific operations on CalCOFI cruises are performed around the clock 7 days a week. Scientists, technicians, and volunteers usually work 12hr shifts scheduled from noon to midnight or midnight to noon. Although transit times between stations can vary and are heavily influenced by sea state, transits between stations 20NM (nautical miles; eg. 93.50 to 93.55) apart take 2hrs; transits between stations 40NM apart (eg. 93.60 to 93.70) take 4hrs. The time to complete work on a station varies as well but a typical station takes ~2.5hrs. Longer stations are: primary productivity stations (~3hrs, daily at noon); basin stations (~3hrs, 2 per cruise); 3500m deep CTD casts (~5hrs, 2 per cruise); Oozeki trawl stations (~3.5hrs, ~12 per cruise); DIC stations (~3hrs, 9 per cruise).

Each standard CalCOFI station usually includes the following:

• A Seabird 9/11plus CTD/Rosette consisting of 24 10-liter hydrographic bottles is lowered to 500 meters (depth permitting) measuring physical parameters (temperature, salinity, oxygen, fluorescence, transmittance, NO3 and PAR); bottles are closed at discrete depths isolating seawater for analysis of: oxygen concentration, salinity, nutrients, chlorophyll and phytoplankton.
• A CalBOBL (CalCOFI Bongo) standard oblique plankton tow with 300 meters of wire out, depth permitting, using paired 505 um mesh nets with 71 cm diameter openings. The technical requirements for this tow are: Descent rate of 50 meters per minute. All tows with ascending wire angles lower than 38 degrees or higher than 51 degrees in the final 100 meters of wire will be repeated. Additionally, a 45 degrees wire angle should be closely maintained during the ascent and descent of the net frame. The Bongo frame is fitted with a self-contained OPC (Optical Particle Counter) mounted inside the port side opening.
• A Manta net (neuston) tow, using a 505 um mesh net on a frame with a mouth area of 0.1333 m^2. The Manta net is towed at surface, sampling 8cm below the air-sea interface, for 15mins at ~1.5kts.
• A Pairovet (vertical) plankton tow is performed at all stations inshore of, and including station 70. The Pairovet net fishes from 70 meters to the surface (depth permitting) using paired 25 cm diameter 150 um mesh nets. The technical requirements for Pairovet tows are: Descent rate of 70 meters per minute, ascent rate of 70 meters per minute. All tows with wire angles exceeding 15 degrees during the ascent will be repeated.
• A PRPOOS (Planktonic Rate Processes in Oligotrophic Ocean Systems) vertical net tow is performed at all stations on line 90.0 and 80.0 as well as stations out to and including station 70.0 on lines 86.7 and 83.3. These stations are occupied as part of the LTER(Long Term Ecological Reserve) project. The mesh of the PRPOOS net is 202 um and the tow is a vertical cast up from 210 meters.

• Ship loading and gear preparation: 02 - 05 MAR.
• Leg 1: 07 MAR - Station 93.3/26.7; 24 MAR - Arrive San Francisco, CA
• The ship will offload scientific gear in San Francisco, CA.

NOAA RV David Starr Jordan
The 171-foot oceanographic research vessel DAVID STARR JORDAN is capable of operating a variety of biological and oceanographic sampling gear. DAVID STARR JORDAN's primary mission is to provide a working platform for the study of the ocean's living resources. In addition to the previous capabilities, the ship is also equipped with a bow chamber and can be outfitted with a helicopter flight deck. 

CUFES: Continuous Underway Fish Egg Sampler (http://cufes.ucsd.edu/)

The Continuous Underway Fish Egg Sampler (CUFES) is an instrument used to collect pelagic eggs of fish and related hydrographic data from ~3m depth on a moving ship. These samples and data, typically collected during winter and spring cruises, are used to investigate spawning habitat and estimate spawning biomass.  When large aggregations of fish eggs are present, Pair-o-vet vertical net tows are done to calibrate egg density.