A database of marine macronutrient, temperature and salinity measurements made around the highly productive island of South Georgia, the Scotia Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula between 1980 and 2009

• Published in: Earth System Science Data
• Main Authors: Whitehouse, Michael J., Hendry, Katharine R., Tarling, Geraint A., Thorpe, Sally E., Hoopen, Petra
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Bellingshausen Sea; Scotia Sea; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Antarc*; British Antarctic Survey
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-211-2023; https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/15/211/2023/

We present a database from substantial collections of macronutrient data made on 20 oceanographic cruises, primarily from around the island of South Georgia and the Scotia Sea. This sector of the Southern Ocean was studied comprehensively during the Discovery Investigations between ∼1920 and 1950 and resulted in the hugely influential Discovery Reports. Following this pioneering research period, there was a lull of several decades prior to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) initiation of an offshore biological programme to study the ecology of the South Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. These studies began in the late 1970s and have continued until the present day. Between 1980 and 2009, the programme included macronutrient measurements as part of an integrated ecosystem analysis. In addition to South Georgia and the Scotia Sea, measurements were also made in the Bellingshausen Sea and the waters to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula. Data were collected during all months of the year with the exceptions of May and June and compiled into a database. Vertical profile samples were taken from water bottles, while data along transects were collected by monitoring the ship's non-toxic seawater supply. Nutrients measured were silicate (Si(OH) 4 –Si), phosphate (PO 4 –P), nitrate (NO 3 –N), ammonium (NH 4 –N), and nitrite (NO 2 –N). Our database includes nutrient data along with contemporaneous temperature and salinity data where available. Further background and supporting information is included for context. The profile and underway sample data have been deposited at the UK Polar Data Centre and are publicly available in NetCDF and CSV formats from https://doi.org/10.5285/4014370F-8EB2-492B-A5F3-6DC68BF12C1E (Whitehouse et al., 2022).