NMFS-COPEPOD (main)   >   Introduction   >   Who is building COPEPOD?

Who is building COPEPOD?

NMFS-COPEPOD is an ongoing effort of the Department of Commerce (DOC) - National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) - Office of Science & Technology - Marine Ecosystems Division to provide investigators with an integrated, online data set of globally distributed plankton abundance, biomass and composition data, along with co-sampled environmental data and value-added plankton products and analyses.

The COPEPOD acronym, philosophy, and online data system were designed and developed by   Todd D. O'Brien   (oceanographer, plankton biologist, database programmer, data archaeologist, windsurfer, and father to three wonderful kids).

NMFS-COPEPOD was born on March 8, 2004, thanks to the efforts and foresight of Dr. Michael Sissenwine (former NMFS Director of Scientific Programs & Chief Science Advisor, now retired) and Dr. Peter Wiebe (Senior Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute).

This project continues under the leadership and encouragement of Dr. Ned Cyr (Chief, Marine Ecosystems Division) and the Leadership of the NMFS - Office of Science and Technology.

Ultimately, NMFS-COPEPOD is possible only through the hard work of the scientists and technicians that originally collected and identified these plankton data.   The primary goal of NMFS-COPEPOD is to make these efforts known, properly acknowledged, and readily available to the rest of the scientific community.

National Marine Fisheries Service  -  Science & Technology  -  Marine Ecosystems Division
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www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/plankton

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