California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations

• NOAA Ship:          NOAA Ship McArthur II
• Cruise Number:    0907M2
• Cruise Dates:        July 14 – August 5, 2009
• Cruise Title:        CalCOFI Survey.
• Study Area:        US/Mexican border to Monterey, CA out to 400 nautical miles.

• Transit from Seattle to San Diego: July 6 – 11, 2009
• Ship loading and gear preparation: July 11 – 13, 2009.
• Leg 1: July 14 – August 5
• Station 93.3/26.7 - 66.7/90.0
• Arrive San Francisco, CA: August 5, 2009
• The ship will offload scientific gear in San Francisco, CA.

Sponsoring Institution:  NOAA/NMFS, Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC)
Fisheries Resources Division (FRD)
 

• CalCOFI's standard station pattern since 1985 includes 66 stations from San Diego to Pt Conception (Lines 93.3 to 76.7).  Nine additional coastal ~20m SCCOOS stations were added July 2004.  See Station position page for station coordinates and average bottom depth.
• Thirty-eight additional stations off central and northern California are typically occupied during winter and spring cruises, time and weather-permitting (Lines 73.3 to 60.0).  Please refer to the 113 Station Map or Station Position page for coordinates.
  
• Parameters measured include condutivity-temperature-depth (CTD) fitted with sensors to measure pressure, temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), fluorescence, and transmissivity. Analytical tests are conducted for salinity, oxygen, chlorophyll and phaeopigments, phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, silicate and primary productivity. Net tows include the CalBOBL, Manta tow, PRPOOS and Pairovet. See Station Work page for more information on typical station activities.

SVP DRIFTER DEPLOYMENT

  0907M2 CalCOFI

SPECIFIC DEPLOYMENT LOCATIONS (13 drifters total, deployed at 7 stations)

sta 86.7 40.0 - 2 drifters; #93561 and #93562; ~100 m separation

sta 86.7 45.0 - 2 drifters; #93563 and #93564; ~100 m separation

sta 86.7 50.0 - 2 drifters; #93565 and #93566; ~100 m separation

sta 86.7 55.0 - 2 drifters; #93567 and #93568; ~100 m separation

sta 83.3 60.0 - 1 drifter; #93569

sta 83.3 55.0 - 2 drifters; #93570 and #93571; ~100 m separation
sta 83.3 51.0 - 2 drifters; #93572 and #93573; ~100 m separation

 

Figure 1 – Stations for drifter deployment (July ’09 cruise) identified with surrounding red rectangles and numerical indication of quantity (1 or 2 drifters).

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.
• 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.

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• Weather observations are tabulated during station supplementing continuous data collected by shipboard integrated mesurement systems (SCIMS/MET/SCS) which also collect continuous sea surface data.
• Secchi disc during daylight stations.
• Primary productivity experiment: at LAN, local apparent noon (~1130-1220), each day of the cruise, a primary productivity incubation experiment is started from the CTD cast. Eighteen samples drawn from six depths determined by a Secchi disc observation and subsequent % light level calculations are inoculated with C14.  Primary production is measured as C14 uptake by samples incubated from LAN to civil twilight at 6 light levels (simulating 6 in-situ depths).  Chlorophyll and phaeophytin concentrations are determined from 24hr cold acetone extraction fluorometric measurements of duplicate seawater samples.  Nutrients are measured with an auto-analyzer.  All radioisotope work is done in a certified, isolated, radioisotope van; all areas are wipe tested before the departure of the SIO technical staff.
• During transit between daytime stations, a bird observer records location and species of various sea birds.
• During transit between daytime stations, two marine mammal observers visually identify marine mammals; a towed hydrophone array records marine mammal acoustics.
• On Winter (~Jan) and Spring (~Apr) CalCOFIs, the CUFES egg pump is mounted inside the ship's hull drawing water from a depth of three meters. Seawater is pumped through an egg concentrator and sample are examined, preliminary egg counts are performed, and the samples are preserved for further analysis on-shore.

All cruise participants going to sea on a NOAA vessel such as the R/V McArthur II must submit the completed Questionnaire and have a recent (within the last 12 months) TB test.

NOAA HEALTH SERVICES QUESTIONNAIRE (click for pdf)
Instructions on how to fill out the questionnaire (pdf)

To: CDR Michelle Pelkey, USPHS
Regional Director of Health Services
NOAA MOC-Pacific
1801 Fairview Avenue East
Seattle, WA 98102
Voice: 206-553-8704
FAX: 206-553-1112