Puget Sound Zooplankton Monitoring Program

Sampling Protocols

Since 2014, our sampling sites across the Salish Sea have been visited twice a month by our sampling groups.

We use vertical and oblique tows in our monitoring program. 

Detailed protocols can be found here

Data

Our data is publicly available. 

Full data set of all stations from 2014-2022 can be found on the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS).

Data collected in King County can be accessed and visualized via the County’s Open Data website.

Both data sets are updated annually in early Spring. 

Should you require more up to date information or specific data query, please contact Dr. Karen Chan (kychan“at”uw“dot”edu) or Amanda Winans  (awinans“at”uw“dot”edu)

Our data is also used to inform other health indices of the Puget Sound Zooplankton Index as part of the Puget Sound Vital Index.

Publications

Suchy, K.D., E. Olson, S.E. Allen, M. Galbraith, B. Herrmann, J.E. Keister, R.I. Perry, A.R. Sastri, and K. Young. 2023. Seasonal and regional variability of model-based zooplankton biomass in the Salish Sea and evaluation against observations. Progress in Oceanography, 219, 103171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2023.103171.
Winans, A. K., B. Herrmann, and J. E. Keister. 2023. Spatio-temporal variation in zooplankton community composition in the southern Salish Sea: changes during the 2015-2016 Pacific marine heatwave. Progress in Oceanography, 214, 103022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2023.103022.
Khangaonkar, T., A. Nugraha, S. K. Yun, L. Premathilake, J. E. Keister, and J. Bos. 2021. Propagation of the 2014–2016 northeast Pacific marine heatwave through the Salish Sea. Frontiers in Marine Science 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.787604.
Khangaonkar, T., A. Nugraha, L. Premathilake, J. E. Keister, and A. Borde. 2021. Projections of algae, eelgrass, and zooplankton ecological interactions in the inner Salish Sea – for future climate, and altered oceanic states. Ecol. Modell. 441: 109420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2020.109420