The composition, size and abundance of phytoplankton and microzooplankton were measured across a transect from Prydz Bay to Australia during late March 1987. Phytoplankton populations were low, with concentrations of chlorophyll a ranging from 0.08 to 0.22 mg.m-3. Small cells predominated numerically; nanoplankton consistently represented 55 to 68% of the total cell number while picoplankton represented 27 to 44%. Microplankton never represented more than 3% of cells by number, but constituted 57 to 93% of the total cell volume, and accounted for most of the latitudinal variation in total volume. Small flagellates, not identifiable by light microscopy, were the most numerous cells encountered across the transect, with a five-fold increase in abundance at 47S. Numbers of diatoms (most less than 20 microns in size) increased markedly south of the Antarctic Convergence, with a strong correlation to the concentration of silica. Dinoflagellate numbers were relatively constant across the transect, although somewhat higher north of 50S. Those less than 20 microns in size were most numerous and accounted for most of the numerical variation. HPLC analysis of chlorophyll and carotenoid pigments showed a peak of peridinin which coincided with the flagellate peak at 47S, but not with observed dinoflagellates, suggesting that the flagellate peak included unrecognized dinoflagellates. Chlorophyll b and prasinoxanthin were also associated, suggesting a significant contribution by prasinophytes. Almost no cyanobacteria were observed south of the convergence, although very large numbers, which correlated with the abundance of zeaxanthin, were encountered to the north. Numbers of ciliates and tintinnids were quite variable although they followed each other closely. Numbers of both were low in the region of the Antarctic Convergence.

Locations of sampling sites for ASAC project 40 on voyage 7 of the Aurora Australis in the 2001/2002 season. The dataset also contains information on chlorophyll, carotenoids, coccolithophorids and species identification and counts. The voyage acronym was LOSS. There are 203 observations in the collection. These data are available via the biodiversity database. The taxa represented in this collection are (species names at time of data collection, 2001-2002): Acanthoica quattrospina Calcidiscus leptoporus Coronosphaera mediterranea Emiliania huxleyi Gephyrocapsa oceanica Pentalamina corona Syracosphaera pulchra Tetraparma pelagica Triparma columacea subsp. alata Triparma laevis subsp. ramispina Triparma strigata Umbellosphaera tenuis

A list of taxa and observations of phytoplankton collected from the SAZ Sense voyage of the Aurora Australis - voyage 3 of the 2006-2007 season. These data are available via the biodiversity database. The collection contains 26 taxa and 562 observations. More information about SAZ SENSE: The overall objective is to characterise Southern Ocean marine ecosystems, their influence on carbon dioxide exchange with the atmosphere and the deep ocean, and their sensitivity to past and future global change including climate warming, ocean stratification, and ocean acidification from anthropogenic CO2 emissions. In particular we plan to take advantage of naturally-occurring, persistent, zonal variations in Southern Ocean primary production and biomass in the Australian Sector to investigate the effects of iron addition from natural sources, and CO2 addition from anthropogenic sources, on Southern Ocean plankton communities of differing initial structure and composition. SAZ-SENSE is a study of the sensitivity of Sub-Antarctic Zone waters to global change. A 32-day oceanographic voyage onboard Australia's ice-breaker Aurora Australis was undertaken in mid-summer (Jan 17 - Feb. 20) 2007 to examine microbial ecosystem structure and biogeochemical processes in SAZ waters west and east of Tasmania, and also in the Polar Frontal Zone south of the SAZ. The voyage brought together research teams from Australasia, Europe, and North America, and was led by the ACE CRC, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, and the Australian Antarctic Division. The overall goal is to understand the controls on Sub-Antarctic Zone productivity and carbon cycling, and to assess their sensitivity to climate change. The strategy is to compare low productivity waters west of Tasmania (areas with little phytoplankton) with higher productivity waters to the east, with a focus on the role of iron as a limiting micro-nutrient. The study also seeks to examine the effect of rising CO2 levels on phytoplankton - both via regional intercomparisons and incubation experiments.

Processed CTD instrument data - Corrected fluorescence profiles at the Southern Kerguelen Plateau, Indian Sector of the Southern Ocean. The fluorometer was calibrated through the regression of burst measurements against in situ chlorophyll a measured at the same depths and sites using high performance liquid chromatography (Wright et al. 2010). Zero chlorophyll a reference points were included in the regression and were obtained through averaging fluorometry data over 200-300 m bins. The resulting linear equation used to convert flourometry data was: chlorophyll = 0.262*fluorescence + 0.101. Column measurements (µg L-1) and integrated data (0-150 m, mg m-2) for each CTD station are provided.

Overview of the project and objectives: Sea-ice phytoplankton is significantly enriched in 13C (delta 13C-POC) compared to pelagic phytoplankton in adjacent open waters because of carbon limitation in the brine pockets and due to physiological properties such as the presence of Carbon Concentrating Mechanisms (CCM) and/or the uptake of bicarbonate (HCO3-). Melting of sea-ice with release of sea-ice phytoplankton occurs during the growth season, so these isotopically heavy particles, if sinking out of the surface waters, can be expected to be found deeper in the water column. One hypothesis is that the natural carbon isotopic signal of brassicasterol (phytosterol, mainly diatom indicator) in the south Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW), a water mass which is influenced by the Seasonal Ice Zone (SIZ), is enriched compared to northern deep waters signal due to an enhanced contribution of sea-ice diatoms. The objective of this dataset acquisition is to gain information on the delta 13C signal of brassicasterol in sea-ice diatoms and further estimate the contribution of sea-ice algae release in the Southern Ocean biological pump. In the course of the expedition, a second choice has been done to look at the presence of particulate barium in the sea-ice. In the open ocean, presence of particulate barium in the mesopelagic layer is an indicator of remineralisation process. The main idea is that marine snow composed of detritical organic matter (aggregates, faecal pellets, etc.) provides micro-environment favorable for precipitation of excess Barium or Baxs (total particulate Ba minus the lithogenic part; mainly constituted of barite crystals, BaSO4): is there such Baxs components in the sea-ice? Methodology and sampling strategy: Sampling strategy follows ice stations deployment via Bio ice-core type. Most of the time we worked close to / directly on the Trace Metal site following precautions concerning TM sampling (clean suits etc.). When we worked close to the TM site, precautions were not such important because we don't need the same drastic precautions for our own sampling. We work together because we want to propose a set of data which helps to characterize the system of functioning in close relation with TM availability (for that, sampling location have to be as close as possible). Ice melted from ice-core sections (see attached files for more details) is filtered on precombusted GF-F filters (0.7 microns porosity) and filters are stored at -20 degrees C. For particulate Barium sampling, same protocol but filtration on PC filters 0.4 microns, dry over night and store at ambient temperature. At home laboratory (VUB, Brussels, Belgium), sterols samples are analysed via Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS) and Gas Chromatography-combustion column-Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (GC-c-IRMS) after chemical treatment. Barium sample are analysed via Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES).

Update - 2013-11-14 - data from the cruise now included in the download file. Two extra excel spreadsheets have been added to the download file - one is a summary file, and the other contains pigment data. Sampling sites with a list of activities at each site for the HIPPIES cruise of the Aurora Australis - December to January 2003-2004. Aurora V4 Tube Labelour use Sample#our use Date(UTC) Time(UTC)Shorthand entry code - ignore Time(UTC)Formatted Use this Long Degdegrees Long Minminutes Long Decdecimaldegrees Lat Degdegrees Lat Minminutes LatDecdecimaldegrees Local time (dec hrs)actual solar local time (decimal hours) calc from longitude DOES NOT EQUAL TIME ZONE Sea Temp Ice present/absent Lugol's#microscope sample number for phytoplankton ID (Our use only) HPLC Volvolume filtered for HPLC pigment analysis (Our use only) Cocco Volvolume filtered for coccolithophorid counts (Our use only) Cocco tray No.(Our use only) Location:DCM: Deep chlorophyll maximum Thermo: Thermocline

Antarctic sea ice is known to store key micronutrients, such as iron, as well as a suite of less studied trace metals in winter which are rapidly released in spring. This stimulates ice edge phytoplankton blooms which drive the biological removal of climatically-important gases like carbon dioxide. By linking the distribution of iron and other trace elements to the cycles of carbon, nitrogen and silicon in the sea ice zone in spring, this project will identify their biogeochemical roles in the seasonal ice zone and how this may change with predicted climate-driven perturbations. All sampling bottles and equipment were decontaminated using trace metal clean techniques. Care was taken at each site to select level ice with homogeneous snow thickness. At all the stations, the same sampling procedure has been used : Firstly, snow was collected using acid cleaned low density polyethylene (LDPE) shovels and transferred into acid-cleaned 3.8 l LDPE containers (Nalgene). Snow collected is analysed for temperature, salinity, nutrients, unfiltered and filtered metals. Snow thickness is recorded with a ruler. Ice cores were collected using a noncontaminating, electropolished, stainless steel sea ice corer (140 mm internal diameter, Lichtert Industry, Belgium) driven by an electric power drill. Ice cores were collected about 10 cm away from each other to minimise between-core heterogeneity. A first core is dedicated to the temperature, salinity and Chlorophyll a (Chla). To record temperature, a temperature probe (Testo, plus or minus 0.1 degrees C accuracy) was inserted in holes freshly drilled along the core every 5 to 10 cm, depending on its length. Bulk salinity was measured for melted ice sections and for brines using a YSI incorporated Model 30 conductivity meter. Chla is processed on board using a 10 AU fluorometer (turner Designs, Sunnyvale California). All those data, read from the screens instruments are directly inserted in the spreadsheet 'Notebook SIPEX-2' in the '4051 Lannuzel' folder. The total length of this core is cut in sections of 7 cm. The second core is dedicated to the POC/PON (Particulate Organic Carbon/ Particulate Organic Nitrogen), DOC (Dissolved Organic Carbon) and nutrients. Six sections of 7 cm are taken from this core. The six sections were chosen so that two top, two intermediate and two basal sections. Two cores are taken for the trace metal analysis. Those cores are directly triple bagged in plastic bags (the inner one is milli-Q washed) and frozen at -20 degrees C until analysis at the laboratory. Brine samples were collected by drainage from "sack holes". Brines and under ice seawater (~1 m deep) were collected in 1 l Nalgene LDPE bottles using an insulated peristaltic pump and acid cleaned C-flex tubing (Cole Palmer). All samples were then transported to the ship as quickly as possible to prevent further freezing. Those samples are used to analyse unfiltered and filtered metals, Chla, POC/PON, nutrients and DOC. Filtration for filtered metals is done on board using a peristaltic pump and a 0.2 micron cartridge filter. All the unfiltered and filtered metals collected are acidified (2 ppt HCl seastar) and stored at room temperature until analysis at the laboratory. Nutrients, DOC and filters for POC/PON are frozen at -20 degrees C until analysis. Chla filtrations and analysis are done on board. Auxiliary cores/brines/underlying seawater were also collected for Caitlin Gionfriddo (caitlingio@gmail.com, Uni. Melbourne) for total mercury (Hg) and methyl-Hg. Also included in this dataset are typed field notes.

Gross Primary Production Six depths were sampled per CTD station ranging from near-surface to 125 m. Sample depths were based on downward fluorescence profiles and two of six samples always included both near-surface (approximately 5-10 m) and the depth of the chlorophyll maximum where applicable. Photosynthetic rates were determined using radioactive NaH14CO3. Incubations were conducted according to the method of Westwood et al. (2011). Cells were incubated for 1 hour at 21 light intensities ranging from 0 to 1200 µmol m-2 s-1 (CT Blue filter centred on 435 nm). Carbon uptake rates were corrected for in situ chlorophyll a (chl a) concentrations (µg L-1) measured using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC, Wright et al. 2010), and for total dissolved inorganic carbon availability, analysed according to Dickson et al. (2007). Photosynthesis-irradiance (P-I) relationships were then plotted in R and the equation of Platt et al. (1980) used to fit curves to data using robust least squares non-linear regression. Photosynthetic parameters determined included light-saturated photosynthetic rate [Pmax, mg C (mg chl a)-1 h-1], initial slope of the light-limited section of the P-I curve [α, mg C (mg chl a)-1 h-1 (µmol m-2 s-1)-1], light intensity at which carbon-uptake became maximal (calculated as Pmax/ α = Ek, µmol m-2 s-1), intercept of the P-I curve with the carbon uptake axis [c, mg C (mg chl a)-1 h-1] , and the rate of photoinhibition where applicable [β, mg C (mg chl a)-1 h-1 (µmol m-2 s-1)-1]. Gross primary production rates were modelled using R. Depth interval profiles (1 m) of chl a from the surface to 200 m were constructed through the conversion of up-cast fluorometry data measured at each CTD station. For conversions, pooled fluorometry burst data from all sites and depths was linearly regressed against in situ chl a determined using HPLC. Gross daily depth-integrated water-column production was then calculated using chl a depth profiles, photosynthetic parameters (Pmax, α , β, see above), incoming climatological PAR, vertical light attenuation (Kd), and mixed layer depth. Climatological PAR was based on spatially averaged (49 pixels, approx. 2 degrees) 8 day composite Aqua MODIS data (level 3, 2004-2017) obtained for Julian day 34. Summed incoming light intensities throughout the day equated to mean total PAR provided by Aqua MODIS. Kd for each station was calculated through robust linear regression of natural logarithm-transformed PAR data with depth. In cases where CTD stations were conducted at night, Kd was calculated from a linear relationship established between pooled chlorophyll a concentrations and Kd’s determined at CTD stations conducted during the day (Kd = -0.0421 chl a * -0.0476). Mixed layer depths were calculated as the depth where density (sigma) changed by 0.05 from a 10 m reference point. Gross primary production was calculated at 0.1 time steps throughout the day (10 points per hour) and summed.

Large volumes of water (200 - 500 L) were filtered and fractionated by size for various planktonic components: eukaryotic phytoplankton, prokaryotic picoplankton, and marine viruses. Sample sites were chosen to generate the widest diversity, and included planktonic blooms, oligotrophic zones, small polynyas near sea ice, nearshore areas, and Antarctic bottom water from coastal, canyon and deepwater areas. Half of each sample will be used for DNA library construction, and the other half will be used for meta-proteomic analysis. Random shotgun sequencing of the marine genomic libraries should produce a metagenomic snapshot of planktonic life in a variety of marine habitats. This work was completed as part of ASAC project 2899 (ASAC_2899).

These data relate to a large-scale early-autumn phytoplankton bloom that occurred off Cape Darnley, East Antarctica, in March 2012. The bloom was detected by Dr Jan Lieser (Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, ACE-CRC) through MODIS satellite and was opportunistically sampled from RSV Aurora Australis using the uncontaminated seawater line. Samples were analysed for protist species and abundances using light and scanning electron microscopy, and pigment analyses were conducted using high performance liquid chromatography. Additional water samples were taken for dissolved nutrient analyses. Specific details of the files are: Cape Darnley Protist Counts Samples were preserved with 1 % vol:vol Lugols iodine and stored in glass bottles in the dark at 4 degrees C. Protists were identified and counted using phase and Nomarski interference optics using Olympus IX71 and IX81 inverted microscopes at 400X to 640X magnification. Bright field optics were also used to discriminate taxa that contained chloroplasts. Protistan taxa were counted in 20 randomly chosen fields of view, except for highly abundant taxa that were counted in a subset of the field of view defined by an ocular quadrant (Whipple grid). Cell biovolumes and carbon conversion statistics were used to calculate the cell biomass of protistan taxa/groups. Cape Darnley Fluorometer Calibration Fluorometer measurements from the ships underway system were calibrated using chlorophyll a readings determined through high performance liquid chromatography. A linear relationship was established between fluorometer v HPLC chlorophyll a measurements at the same sites. The linear equation was then used to convert all underway fluorometry data from the voyage. Cape Darnley Bloom HPLC Pigments CHEMTAX summary Major phytoplankton groups at each site determined through analysis of pigments using high performance liquid chromatography and CHEMTAX. Methods were according to that of Wright et al. (2010). Cape Darnley Bloom Nutrients Dissolved nutrient concentrations. Samples were analysed by the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, 18 St. Johns Avenue, Newtown, Tasmania 7008. Cape Darnley Underway Data VOYAGE_04_0_201112 Raw underway data from Aurora Australis in the bloom region Cape Darnley Underway Data Maps Maps of the underway data in the bloom region