Sanchez-Rubio and Perry: Meteorological and hydrological regimes and their influence on recruitment of Brevoortia patronus 
393 
Table 1 
Periods and sources of climatological, meteorological, hydrological, and biological data used in analysis of the effect of 
climate-related factors on the recruitment of menhaden in the northern Gulf of Mexico. N:P ratio=nitrogen to phosphorus 
ratio; BPL= beam plankton trawl; hPa=hectopascal; h=hour. 
Variables 
Units 
Years 
Months 
Sources 
Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation 
°C 
1962-2010 
Jul-Jun 
ESRL 1 
North Atlantic Oscillation 
hPa 
1962-2010 
Apr-Mar 
NCAR 2 
El Nino Southern Oscillation 
°C 
1962-2010 
May-Feb 
ESRL 3 
Coastal air temperature 
°C 
1962-2010 
Nov-Mar 
NCDC 4 
Precipitation 
Mm 
1962-2010 
Sep-Aug 
NCDC 4 
River flows 
m 3 /s 
1962-2010 
Sep-Aug 
USGS 5 
Palmer Drought Severity Index 
1962-2010 
Sep-Aug 
NCDC 4 
Sea level 
Mm 
1962-2010 
Nov-May 
GLOSS 6 
Offshore wind momentum 
[N/m' 2 ]h 
1973-2010 
Oct-Mar 
NDBC 7 
Sea-surface temperature 
°C 
1973-2010 
Oct-Mar 
NDBC 7 
N:P ratio of Mississippi River influx 
1974-2010 
Sep-Aug 
USGS 8 
Postlarval abundance index from BPL surveys 
1981-2008 
Nov-May 
ADCNR 9 ; MSDMR 10 
Early juvenile abundance index from seine surveys 
1985-2008 
Jan- Aug 
ADCNR 9 ; LDWF 11 
MSDMR 10 ; TPWC 12 
Numbers and proportions per vessel ton week by age 
in the purse-seine fishery 
1964-2010 
Mid-Apr-Oct 
Smith and Vaughan 13 
1 ESRL (Earth Systems Research Laboratory). AMO unsmoothed from the Kaplan SST V2. [Available at website, accessed 
May 2012.] 
2 NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research). Hurrell NAO Index (PC-based). [Available at website, accessed May 
2012 .] 
3 ESRL (Earth Systems Research Laboratory). ENSO: 3.4 SST Region. [Available at website, accessed May 2012.] 
4 NCDC (National Climatic Data Center). Air temperature, precipitation, and Palmer Drought Severity Index. [Available at 
website, accessed May 2012.] 
5 USGS (U.S. Geological Survey). River flows along the Gulf Coast. [Available at website, accessed May 2012.] 
6 GLOSS (Global Sea Level Observing System). Sea level for Pensacola and Galveston. [Available at website, accessed May 
2012 .] 
7 NDBC (National Data Buoy Center). Wind direction, wind speed, and sea-surface temperature from 42001 and 42002 buoy 
stations. [Available at website, accessed May 2012.] 
8 USGS (U.S. Geological Survey). Mississippi River predicted loads of monthly nutrients. [Available at website, accessed May 
2012.1 
9 ADCNR (Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources). 2011. Unpubl. data. [Beam plankton net and bag 
seine data from fishery monitoring program.] ADCNR, Montgomery, AL 36130. 
10 MSDMR (Mississippi Department of Marine Resources). 2011. Unpubl. data. [Beam plankton net and bag seine data from 
fishery monitoring program.] MSDMR, Biloxi, MS 39530. 
n LDWF (Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries). 2011. Unpubl. data. [Bag seine data from fishery monitoring 
program.] LDWF, Baton Rouge, LA 70898. 
12 TPWC (Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission). 2011. Unpubl. data. [Bag seine data from fishery monitoring program.] 
TPWC, Austin, TX 78744. 
13 Smith, J. W., and D. S. Vaughan. 2011. Harvest, effort, and catch-at-age for Gulf menhaden. Southeast Data, Assessment, 
and Review SEDAR 27-DW05, 28 p. [Available at website.] 
seine hauls in the central region, and 3) menhaden 
species from seine hauls in the western region. Fish- 
ery-dependent data included numbers and proportions 
of Gulf menhaden by age captured in the reduction 
purse-seine fishery. Meteorological conditions used in 
analyses were north-south and east-west wind mo- 
mentum, precipitation, and air temperature, and hy- 
drological conditions comprised sea-surface tempera- 
ture (SST), Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), 
river flow, and Mississippi River nitrogen to phospho- 
rus (N:P) ratio. 
Materials and methods 
Data sets and sampling locations used to identify re- 
sponses of juvenile (age 0) and adult (ages 1-6) popula- 
tions of Gulf menhaden to local meteorological and hy- 
drological conditions imposed by the coupling of AMO 
and NAO phases and by ENSO events are presented 
in Table 1 and Figure 1, respectively. Table 1 provides 
details on periods and sources of climatological, meteo- 
rological, hydrological, and biological data used in our 
analysis of the effect of climate-related factors on the 
