U.S. GLOBEC: Broad-Scale Patterns of the Distribution of Zooplankton and Nekton in Relation to Micro- to Coarse-Scale Physical Structure in the Georges Bank Region

作为美国GLOBEC西北大西洋/乔治斯银行研究的一部分，Wiebe博士和他的合作者将使用配备多频声学、生物光学和物理传感器系统的拖曳机构来确定乔治斯银行浮游动物和Nekton种群的广泛分布。主要重点是对整个乔治斯浅滩区域浮游生物和尼克顿的体积后向散射和目标强度进行高分辨率测量，并辅之以光学和物理数据，以便为估计生物量的空间分布和声学目标的大小频率提供多维基础，这些目标跨越目标物种(鳕鱼、黑线鳕、水豚和假银鱼)及其捕食者的大小范围。多频率、多波束系统将提供高空间分辨率的体积后向散射和目标强度估计。生物光学系统将提供浮游生物的高分辨率视频图像，用于确定拖曳身体附近轨道线上的类群的相对组成和大小分布。这些数据和理论模型将被用来解释有意义的生物特性方面的声学数据，如生物量和大小分布。物理传感器将提供关于岸边环境的精细到粗略的物理结构以及与捕食者-猎物相互作用有关的微观结构的信息。声学测量可以直接与浮游生物和Nekton的光学和净采集产生的数据相关。声学空间图和时间序列还将在岸上的实际海洋条件和从分布在整个乔治斯岸地区的站点的净采集中确定的物种的生物分布之间建立必要的联系。

As part of the U.S. GLOBEC NW Atlantic/Georges Bank study, Dr. Wiebe and collaborators will determine the broad-scale distribution of zooplankton and nekton populations on Georges Bank using a towed body equipped with multiple frequency acoustical, bio-optical, and physical sensor systems. The primary focus is on making high-resolution measurements of volume backscattering and target strength of plankton and nekton throughout the Georges Bank region, complemented with optical and physical data, to provide a multi-dimensional base of estimates of the spatial distribution of biomass and size frequency of acoustical targets which span the size range of the target species (cod, haddock, Calanus, and Pseudocalanus) and their predators. The multi-frequency, multi-beam system will provide high spatial resolution estimates of volume backscattering and target strength. The bio-optical system will provide high resolution video images of the plankton which will be used to determine the relative composition and size distribution of the taxa along the tracklines in the immediate vicinity of the towed body. These data together with theoretical models will be used to interpret the acoustical data in terms of meaningful biological properties, such as biomass and size distribution. The physical sensors will provide the information about fine to coarse-scale physical structure of the Bank environment and also the micro-structure relevant to predator-prey interactions. The acoustic measurements can be directly related to the data generated by the optical and net collections of plankton and nekton. The acoustical spatial maps and time-series will also provide essential linkage between the physical oceanographic conditions on the Bank and the biological distributions of the species as determined from the net collections at the stations distributed throughout the Georges Bank region.