| Summary: | The Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean is experiencing major reductions in seasonal sea ice extent and increases in sea surface temperatures. One of the key uncertainties in this region is how the marine ecosystem will respond to seasonal shifts in the timing of spring sea ice retreat and/or delays in fall sea ice formation. Variations in upper ocean water hydrography, planktonic production, pelagic-benthic coupling and sediment carbon cycling are all influenced by sea ice and temperature change. To more systematically track the broad biological response to sea ice retreat and associated environmental change, an international consortium of scientists have developed a coordinated “Distributed Biological Observatory” (DBO) that includes selected biological measurements at multiple trophic levels, along with satellite and mooring measurements. The DBO currently focuses on five regional biological “hotspot” locations along a latitudinal gradient that allows for consistent sampling and monitoring at five biologically productive locations across a latitudinal gradient: DBO 1 (SLIP)-south of St. Lawrence Island (SLI), DBO2 (Chirikov)-north of SLI, DBO3 (southern Chukchi Sea), DBO4-NE Chukchi Sea,and DBO5-Barrow Canyon. This dataset contains benthic macroinfaunal population level from sediment samples collected at each station for the CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier cruise-Leg 1 in 2015, identified by station number (#), Station name (Stn. Name), Date (mm/dd/yy), latitude (°N), longitude (°W), and station depth (m). The following macroinfaunal parameters were determined: abundance, wet weight biomass (gww/m2), dry weight biomass (gC/m2), and taxon type.
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