Atlantic Zone Monitoring Program (AZMP) DFO Quebec region plankton dataset

Lawrence. IML scientists also sample two fixed stations in the Gulf of St. Lawrence off shore of Ste-Marthe de Gaspé.

The station nearest the coast is the Gaspé Current station; it is located about 4 km off the south shore of the St. Lawrence, in the middle of the Gaspé Current. This station gives information on the oceanographic conditions of the water leaving the St.

Lawrence estuary. A second station, called the Anticosti Gyre, is located about 60 km from the Gaspé coast and was chosen to provide information on the oceanographic conditions of the more oceanic waters of the Gulf. Due to its location, this station is not influenced by water leaving the St.

Lawrence estuary or by freshwater inputs from tributaries to the St. Lawrence. These two stations have been sampled year-round since 1996 at frequencies from 12 to 20 times per year, depending on ship availability (ship time is most often furnished by Canadian Coast Guard "ships of opportunity.") A third fixed station is the Rimouski station, located about 20 km off shore of Rimouski.

This station has been sampled one a week between May and October since 1992. The data collected from this station can also serve to complete and validate to some degree the data collected at the Gaspé Current station. In the spring, these stations are also the mooring sites of a series of instrumented buoys that transmit oceanographic data in real-time until the fall.

Temperature, salinity, chlorophyll a, nutrients, and dissolved oxygen as well as phytoplankton and zooplankton biomass are regularly sampled at all AZMP stations.