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

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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.