US-GLOBEC: Broad-Scale Acoustic Measurements of Zooplankton and Nekton in the Georges Bank Region

作为美国GLOBEC西北大西洋/乔治海岸研究的一部分，Wiebe博士和合作者将使用拖曳向下看的高频声学系统（工作频率为120,420和720千赫）来确定乔治海岸浮游动物和浮游生物种群的大范围声学分布。拖曳系统将部署在乔治海岸地区的每月调查中，旨在涵盖浮游生物的浮游生物的远洋阶段。这些数据将被分析，以产生空间斑块、相对丰度和大型浮游动物、微浮游动物和更大的声音散射的大小分布。声学数据将与MOCNESS网络收集的尺寸、频率和分类成分数据进行比较。这些数据将被用作声散射模型的输入，以便在没有收集到直接生物数据的情况下准确描述回声测深仪数据。动物密度和大小的声学估计，结合水文（主要是温度）、生理和猎物密度数据，可用于探索目标物种生长速度的空间显式模型。

9313675 Wiebe As part of the U.S. GLOBEC NW Atlantic/Georges Bank study, Dr. Wiebe and collaborators will determine the broad-scale acoustical distribution of zooplankton and nekton populations on Georges Bank using a towed down-looking high frequently acoustical system (operating at 120, 420 and 720 kHz). The towed system will be deployed on the monthly surveys of the Georges Bank region designed to cover the duration of the pelagic stages of the gadid ichyoplankton. The data will be analyzed to yield estimates of spatial patchiness, relative abundance, and size distribution of macrozooplankton, micronekton, and larger sound scatters. The acoustical data will be compared with size frequency and taxonomic composition data generated from MOCNESS net collections. The data will be used as input into acoustic scattering models for accurate descriptions of echosounder data where direct biological data are not collected. Acoustical estimates on animal density and size, when combined with the hydrographic (temperature primarily), physiological, and prey density data can be used to explore spatially-explicit models of target species growth rates.