RAPID: Effect of a Very Low NAO Event on the Abundance of the Lipid-Rich Planktonic Copepod, Calanus Finmarchicus, in the Gulf of Maine

Test the hypothesis that a distinctly lower abundance of the planktonic copepod, Calanus finmarchicus in the Gulf of Maine follows the occurrence of very negative winter phases of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). In 2010, the station-based winter NAO index was -4.64, even more intense than the negative (-3.78) 1996 NAO winter index. If a two-year lagged relationship between very negative NAO winter indices and Calanus abundance in the Gulf of Maine is valid, cooler water from the Labrador Sea should replace Atlantic Temperate Slope Water in the GoM in 2012, inducing a major climatic ecosystem event on the New England shelf, one manifestation of which would be dramatically lower Calanus abundances in the Gulf of Maine basins. Collect data on demography, abundance and characteristics of body size and composition of the Calanus finmarchicus in Wilkinson Basin during a period of extreme warming in the Gulf of Maine. These date will provide evidence for development of hypotheses about the sources and fate of C. finmarchicus in the Gulf of Maine in the context of climate forcing of the region\u27s coastal ecosystems