Abstract:

This dataset includes ZooScan image data of zooplankton collected aboard the Walton Smith 4 in the northern Gulf of Mexico from 2011-04-20 to 2011-05-27. This was part of a series of Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) cruises were conducted in 2010 and 2011 to evaluate the distribution and densities of ichthyoplankton and other zooplankton in Gulf of Mexico waters potentially affected by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (DWHOS) and in surrounding areas. The data contains the date, longitude, and latitude of sample collection.

Suggested Citation:

Calhoun, Stacy, Kelly Robinson, and Malinda Sutor. 2022. ZooScan zooplankton image data, Walton Smith 4, WS4, NRDA plankton survey research cruise in the Gulf of Mexico, 2011-04-20 to 2011-05-27. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/n7-q8s5-b255

Purpose:

This data was collected as part of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) of the MC252 Deepwater Horizon 2010 oil spill. Taxonomic identifications and image data acquired from Dr. Malinda Sutor with additional samples scanned and processed by the Robinson lab at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL-Lafayette).

Data Parameters and Units:

Dataset includes a readme Excel file that contains explanations of headers, longitude, latitude, and date of sample collection. Image files included in this dataset are stored as tif files (background scans, full sample scans), and jpeg files (vignettes). Additional files required for ZooScan processing are also included.

Methods:

The majority of zooplankton image and density data were acquired from the Sutor lab at Louisiana State University (LSU). Samples not scanned during the original NRDA effort were scanned by the Sutor lab at LSU (for remaining Walton Smith Cruise 1 samples) and the Robinson lab at University of Louisiana at Lafayette (for remaining Walton Smith 3 and Walton Smith 4 Cruises). The dataset authors are curating the deep-pelagic plankton data for analysis, and were not part of the sample collection effort. Original zooplankton data were received as image data and excel spreadsheets with density calculations for samples processed during the NRDA effort. Density data for Walton Smith Cruise 4 is submitted under R6.x815.000:0021, DOI: 10.7266/n7-9kwb-eh85. The image dataset includes neuston zooplankton samples in addition to the MOCNESS zooplankton samples. However, the dataset authors cannot confirm that all neuston samples taken during the cruise are represented in this dataset. Scans that were not separated into vignettes at the time of receipt were not processed by the dataset authors, but the files necessary for processing are included. Samples processed by the Robinson lab were sorted manually in Ecotaxa and do not have "Learning Set" PID process files. Other PID process files produced by ZooScan are available in the PID process folder for each sample. All files for a given sample are stored in a folder labeled with the NRDA sample ID. Background scans are stored in the Zooscan_back folder; Full sample scans and corresponding raw and work files are stored in the Zooscan_scan, Zooscan_scan/_raw, and Zooscan_scan/_work folders, respectively. Vignettes sorted with PID are stored in taxa-specific folders in the PID_process/sorted_vignettes folder. Likewise vignettes sorted in Ecotaxa are stored in taxa-specific folders in the Ecotaxa_sorted_vignettes folder.

Instruments:

1m MOCNESS, 9 nets (0-8), 0.333 mm mesh. Net 0 serves as an archive sample and has not been processed, and thus does not appear in this dataset. Scans were performed and processed on Hydroptics ZooScan and accompanying software.

Individual Files: