Zooplankton monitoring of the Lisbon Bay, Portugal, since 2005

This data was acquired at the Cascais monitoring site, which is a station of the time-series CASCAIS-WATCH, the oceanographic observation programme of the Oceanography and Plankton Group of the Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA). The station is located off Cascais Bay, outside the Tagus River estuary at 38°40’N 09°26W, in a water depth of around 38m. Zooplankton samples are collected from 30m to the surface on a monthly basis with a WP2 net (50cm diameter, 200μm mesh). Samples are divided in two: one half is preserved in 4% borax-buffered formalin in seawater and later examined for identification and counting of mesozooplankton. The other half is lyophilized and weighted for biomass determination. Neuston samples are also collected using a rectangular net with a mouth opening of 0.2×1.0 m and 200µm mesh size, towed horizontally at the surface for 3 to 5 minutes. Besides zooplankton monitoring, temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll a are measured with a CTD fluorometer. The reaults are analysed for information regarding the abundance, seasonal distribution and biodiversity of zooplankton in the area.