INTRODUCTION



The data in this report were collected during Cruises 9207* and 9210 of the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) program aboard the RV New Horizon of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego and the NOAA ship RV David Starr Jordan. The CalCOFI program was organized in the late 1940s to study the causes of variations in population size of fishes of importance to the State of California. It is carried out by NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service Southwest Fisheries Science Center, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the Marine Life Research Group (MLRG) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO). MLRG contributes to this program by investigations of the physical, chemical and biological structure of the California Current. Data from CalCOFI Cruises 9207 and 9210 were collected and processed by personnel of the Marine Life Research Group and the Southwest Fisheries Science Center. Volunteers and other SIO staff members also assisted in the collection of data and chemical analyses at sea.

STANDARD PROCEDURES


Hydrographic Cast Data

The hydrographic casts usually consisted of 20 three-liter plastic (PVC) bottles lowered to a maximum sampling depth of 500 meters, bottom depth permitting. Temperature, salinity, oxygen and nutrients were determined at sea for all depths sampled. Chlorophyll-a and phaeopigments were determined at sea from the top 14 depths. A special near-bottom cast was done in the Santa Barbara Basin.

Paired protected reversing thermometers read by two observers were used to determine temperatures which were then recorded to hundredths of a degree Celsius. The temperatures are reported relative to the International Practical Temperature Scale of 1968 (IPTS-68). The new International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90) differs from the IPTS-68 by less than 0.01ºC over oceanic temperature ranges, so the distinction between the two scales is of marginal significance for temperatures listed to the nearest hundredth of a degree. Most sampling bottles used below a depth of about 75 meters were equipped with unprotected thermometers for determination of the depth of sampling, using theSaunders (1981) pressure-to-depth conversion technique.


Salinity samples were analyzed at sea using inductive-type salinometers standardized with substandard seawater. Periodic checks on the concentration of the substandard were made by comparison with IAPSO Standard Seawater batch P-78. Salinity values have been calculated from the algorithms for the Practical Salinity Scale, 1978 (UNESCO,1981a) and were reported to three decimal places, provided that accepted standards were met. If only one determination per sample was obtained, or there was doubt concerning the accuracy of the analytical results, the salinities were reported to two decimal places.

Dissolved oxygen was determined by the Winkler method,, as modified by Carpenter (1965), using the equipment and procedure outlined by Anderson (1971). Percent oxygen saturation was calculated from the equations of Weiss(1970).

Silicate, phosphate, nitrate and nitrite nutrients were determined at sea using an automated analyzer. The procedures used are similar to those described in Atlas et al. (1971).

Samples for chlorophyll-a and phaeopigments were filtered onto GF/F filters. The pigments were extracted with a cold extraction technique in 90% acetone (Venrick and Hayward, 1984), and the fluorescence determined before and after acidification with a Turner Designs fluorometer (Yentsch and Menzel, 1963; Holm-Hansen et al. 1965).

Evaluation of the data involved comparisons with adjacent stations and consideration of the variation of a property as a function of density or depth and the relationships with other properties (Klein, 1973). Estimates of precision of the standard techniques are given in SIO, 1991.


Primary Productivity Casts

Primary productivity casts were taken each day shortly before local apparent noon (LAN) using a Sea-Bird Electronics, Inc. CTD and General Oceanics rosette. Primary production was estimated from 14C uptake using a simulated in situ technique. Light penetration was estimated from the Secchi depth (assuming that the 1% light level is three times the Secchi depth). The depths with ambient light intensities corresponding to light levels simulated by the on-deck incubators were identified and sampled with five-liter Niskin bottles tripped on the up CTD/rosette cast. The Niskin bottles were equipped with epoxy-coated springs and silicone-rubber O-rings. Pressures and temperatures reported were derived from the CTD at the time of the Niskin bottle trip. Triplicate samples (two light and one dark control) were drawn from each productivity sample depth into 250 ml polycarbonate incubation bottles. Samples were innoculated with 10 µCi of 14C as NaHCO3 (200 µl of 50 µCi/ml stock) prepared in a 0.3 g/liter solution of sodium carbonate (Fitzwater et al., 1982). Samples were incubated from LAN to civil twilight in seawater-cooled incubators with neutral-density screens which simulate in situ light levels. At the end of the incubation, the samples were filtered onto Millipore HA filters and placed in scintillation vials. One half ml of 10% HC1 was added to each sample. The sample was then allowed to sit, without a cap, at room temperature for 12 hours (after Lean and Burnison, 1979). Following this, 10 ml of scintillation fluor were added to each sample and the samples were returned to SIO where the radioactivity was determined with a scintillation counter. Salinity, oxygen, nutrients, chlorophyll-a, and phaeopigments were determined for all depths.


*The first two digits represent the year and the last digits the month of the cruise.

Macrozooplankton Net Tows

Macrozooplankton was sampled with a 71 cm mouth diameter paired net (bongo net) equipped with 0.505 mm plankton mesh. Bottom depth permitting the nets were towed obliquely from 210 m to the surface. The tow time for a standard tow was 21.5 minutes. Volumes filtered were determined from flowmeter readings and the mouth area of the net. Only one sample of each pair was retained and preserved. The biomass, as wet displacement volume, after removal of large (>5 ml) organisms, was determined in the laboratory ashore. These procedures are summarized in greater detail in Kramer et al. (1972).

TABULATED DATA


Hydrographic Cast Data

The reported hydrographic cast time is the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) of the messenger release. Bottom depths, determined acoustically, have been corrected using British Admiralty Tables (Carter, 1980) and are reported in meters. Weather conditions have been coded using WMO code 4501. Secchi depths, taken on most daylight stations, are also reported.


Observed and interpolated standard depth data from hydrographic casts have been interspersed and are presented together sequentially by depth. Interpolated or extrapolated standard level data are noted by the footnote "ISL" printed after the depth. Density-related parameters have been calculated from the International Equation of State of Seawater1980 (UNESCO, 1981, b). Computed values of potential temperature, sigma-theta, specific volume anomaly (SVA), dynamic height or geopotential anomaly, and pressure are included with both observed and interpolated standard depth levels.


Primary Productivity Casts

In addition to the normal hydrographic data, the tabulated data include: the in situ light levels at which the samples were collected, the uptake from each of the replicate light bottles (uptake 1 and uptake 2) which have been corrected for dark uptake by subtracting the dark value, the mean of the two uptake values, the dark uptake, chlorophyll-a and phaeopigments. The uptake values are totals for the incubation period. Also shown are the times of LAN, civil twilight, and the value of the mean uptake integrated from the surface to the deepest sample, assuming that the shallowest value continues to the surface and that negative values (when dark uptake exceeds light uptake) are zero. The uptake data have been presented to two significant digits (values <1.00) or one decimal (values >1.00). The higher production values may not warrant all of the digits presented. Incubation time, LAN, and civil twilight are given in local Pacific Standard Time (PST); to convert to UTC, add eight hours to the PST time. Incubation light intensities are listed in a footnote at the bottom of each page.

Macrozooplankton Data

Macrozooplankton biomass volumes are tabulated as total biomass volume (cm3/l000 m3 strained) and as the total volume minus the volume of larger organisms under the heading "Small." Tow times are given in local PST (+8) time.

FOOtnOTES


In addition to footnotes, special notations are used without footnotes because the meaning is always the same.

ISL: After a depth value indicates that this is an interpolated or extrapolated standard level.

U: Uncertain value. Values which are not used in interpolation because they seem to be in error without apparent reason.