Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey
Data Access

Data Availability: Data are available online.  The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey of the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS) is a plankton sampling instrument designed to be towed from merchant ships on their normal sailings. Alister Hardy used the first prototype to sample krill in the Antarctic on the "Discovery" cruises of 1925-27. He modified the design for use in the North Sea and started collecting plankton in the 1930s. The CPR was deployed in the North Sea regularly from 1946, on a number of routes. SAHFOS is based in Plymouth, UK, and cooperates with sister CPR surveys around the globe (from the SAHFOS web site). More

CPR Program Overview

Update March 29, 2011

Access Databases

About CPR survey, operations, instrumentation & analysis

• Access the CPR Database
• Access the CPR Metadata
• Access the CPR Temperature Data

Access Information

• CPR Species list(Phytoplankton Species, Zooplankton (Eyecount) , & Zooplankton (Travers) Species list)
• Information on taxonomic resolution and available time series for selected taxa from the CPR database
• CPR Plankton Image Library

Data & Information

The CPR analysis method has remained unchanged since the 1950s, and underpins the database design (refer to Warner and Hays (1994) for a detailed methodology). Each CPR sample represents 10 nautical miles (approximately 3 cubic meters of water filtered). The analysis procedure comprises 3 stages: (i) phytoplankton, (ii) zooplankton 'traverse' and (iii) zooplankton ‘eyecount', all phytoplankton and zooplankton present are identified to species or taxon. Zooplankton 'traverse' and ‘eyecount' exact counts are assigned numerical categories. There are 10 numerical categories for phytoplankton and 12 for zooplankton. All analysis is carried out under light microscopes (54x - 450x) and binocular microscopes (17.5x - 140x).

Data Policy

• Data Policy Statement