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IMOS National Reference Station (NRS) - Zooplankton Biomass

Created 26/03/2026

Updated 26/03/2026

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This dataset comprises the biomass sampling component of a broader sampling program carried out by the Plankton National Reference Station within the Integrated Marine Observing system. Regular monthly zooplankton samples are undertaken at the stations as part of a larger water sampling program by the National Reference Stations. In total nine stations are sampled regularly around the Australian coastline. Sampling is conducted monthly (Esperance and Ningaloo 3 monthly) off small vessels at each of the nine reference stations. The sampling is conducted using a drop net (as per the design of Heron) which has a 60 cm diameter, 100 micron mesh and is weighted to fall at 1 m/s. The net is designed to pull closed at the end of its fall so that it samples on the way down and does not sample on the way up. The depth of the sample varies at each station. 3 zooplankton samples are taken each month. 2 are fixed in formalin and will be analysed as described below. The unfixed sample is concentrated and frozen (-80 deg C)and will be used for molecular analysis in the future. The Port Hacking 4 (PH4) samples (2002 - Jan 2009) were sampled using a smaller net, 20 cm diameter, which sampled on the way up and down. The PH4 site is very close to the Port Hacking national reference station (PHB) where samples are now taken to build up and enhance the time series. The plankton ecology lab (based in Queensland) will analyse the samples collected for: 1. Community composition (Taxon/m3) 2. Biomass (dry weight in mg/m3) 3. Size spectrum analysis using zooscan (in progress) Data storage and access is planned to be interoperable with other national and international programs through the IMOS Infrastructure. Station metadata can be found through this resource. Data is available freely via the AODN portal: https://portal.aodn.org.au.

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Additional Info

Field Value
Title IMOS National Reference Station (NRS) - Zooplankton Biomass
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/86a0f888-a368-4522-947d-41138b0069f7
Contact Point
CSIRO Marlin Data Catalogue
Claire.Davies@csiro.au
Reference Period 01/09/2008
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
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  "type": "Polygon"
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Data Portal Data.gov.au