Updates to Zooplankton Products from NOAA Fisheries EcoMon Surveys

May 21, 2025

Zooplankton are a group of tiny animals that contribute to the base of marine food webs. NROC and MARCO have collaborated in the past with the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center and experts throughout the region to display zooplankton data products for ocean planning that represent distribution and abundance as sampled by the Ecosystem Monitoring (EcoMon) survey. Zooplankton data products can help managers estimate how many fish were in an area to spawn; understand how populations are shifting or changing their habitat due to environment change and other stressors; and characterize the state of our marine ecosystems (NOAA Fisheries).

The Marine-life Data & Analysis Team (MDAT) updated zooplankton abundance data products on the Northeast Ocean Data Portal and the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal. This updated dataset replaces the previous data products using the same methods and EcoMon source data. The updated data products display abundance for six zooplankton species or species groups for each season for two time periods: 2003-2009 and 2010-2021. These time periods were chosen to align with the two existing North Atlantic right whale model “eras”, given the influence of zooplankton prey species on right whale distribution. A companion layer showing EcoMon sampling point locations for each time period and season was also developed to provide context around the variability in sampling effort. For example, sampling effort in winter is lower than other seasons, meaning that the maps were developed by interpolating across greater distances between the sampled points.

Screenshot of Data Explorer interactive map.

Map of Calanus finmarchicus seasonal distribution and abundance during spring 2010-2021. Gray circles indicate Ecosystem Monitoring (EcoMon) survey sites during that time period.  

Launch Interactive Map

In the Data Explorer, select Habitat > Biological to view the updated products:

Click the clock icon next to each layer to open the time period selector and time slider tool.

To guide the development of these updated products, MDAT elicited feedback from RWSC Habitat & Ecosystem Subcommittee members. A subset of Subcommittee members, including staff from NOAA Fisheries, academia, and the private sector provided input on the selection of species groups, seasons, and time periods that would be ecologically relevant.

Citations and More information:
US DOC/NOAA/NMFS > Zooplankton and ichthyoplankton abundance and distribution in the North Atlantic collected by the Ecosystem Monitoring (EcoMon) Project from 1977-02-13 to 2021-11-15  (NCEI Accession 0187513). NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0187513.