ISO/NP 26938

Marine Ecosystem Monitoring and Assessment (MEMA) — Zooplankton monitoring using in situ optical imaging systems

Scope

This document provides a framework for using in situ underwater optical imaging systems for zooplankton monitoring in marine ecosystem monitoring and assessment. It gives guidance on system requirement and deployment, image acquisition, data processing, taxonomic and size-class identification, quality control, metadata reporting, and data management to improve the consistency and comparability of observations across platforms, regions, and instrument types. This document applies to imaging-based observations of zooplankton, including microzooplankton, mesozooplankton, and macrozooplankton, where technically feasible according to instrument resolution and sampling design. It also addresses key performance considerations such as resolution, detection accuracy, classification, calibration, uncertainty, and system performance under different environmental conditions.