Coastal Monitoring Site: Millport

The monitoring station at Millport is situated on the Isle of Cumbrae in the Firth of Clyde.Most of the coastline of Millport is sheltered but its position within the Firth of Clyde makes it exposed at the south and south-west only.

A minilogger is deployed at Keppel Pier which extends into the north-south oriented Fairlie channel between Millport Island and the mainland. The Keppel Pier site is a sheltered location in a sheltered coastline.

Data collection at the Millport station was started by the Scottish Marine Biological Association in 1953, although records exist from as early as 1909. Sea surface temperature measurements were collected at weekly intervals using a bucket

thermometer. The contribution of Dr Peter Barnett, originally based at the Millport Marine Biological Station, for the initial collections and his continued assistance with the minilogger deployments is gratefully acknowledged.

MSS adopted the station and started collecting temperature data in 2003. From this point data collection was automated using temperature miniloggers. The minilogger is deployed on a surface-following buoy, so data are recorded at a fixed depth

(approximately 15 cm) below sea surface.

Phytoplankton samples were collected between October 2005 and October 2013 from Fairlie Channel and the sampling site is approximately 35 m in depth. When weather was rough these samples were collected from Keppel Pier. A

10 m integrated tube sampler is used to collect samples for phytoplankton community analysis. Samples were collected by staff at the University Marine Biological Station Millport between 2005 and 2013 and their input into the success of this programme is gratefully acknowledged.