Photosynthetic pigments of water column samples analyzed using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), sampled during the Palmer LTER field seasons at Palmer Station, Antarctica, 1991 – 2019.

• Main Authors: LTER, Palmer Station Antarctica, Schofield, Oscar, Vernet, Maria, Prezelin, Barbara
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Environmental Data Initiative 2022
• Subjects: Palmer Station; Palmer-Station; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/ffeb2f59fe11d8a0dabbb992e6b614e2; https://portal.edirepository.org/nis/mapbrowse?packageid=knb-lter-pal.130.7

Phytoplankton pigment sampling was led by Prezelin from the 1991-1992 season through the 1993-1994 season, and then by Vernet from the 1994-1995 season through the 2006-2007 season. Schofield is the third, and current lead, beginning in the 2008-2009 season. Methods have been kept consistent as much as possible over the full time series and different Principal Investigators. Phytoplankton have a suite of accessory pigments in addition to Chlorophyll a, including other Chlorophyll’s (e.g. Chlorophyll b), Xanthophylls, and Carotenes. These accessory pigments can be used as chemotaxonomic markers to assess the composition and distribution of the phytoplankton community. For example, Fucoxanthin is a marker pigment of Diatoms, whereas Alloxanthin is a marker pigment of Cryptophytes. Accessory pigments also assist in photoacclimation and photoprotective processes. Water samples are collected throughout the water column at stations within the Palmer LTER region (primarily B and E, to 50m and 65m respectively). Water samples are filtered onto GF/F filters, and filters kept frozen at -80C until analysis. HPLC analysis is completed following Wright et al (1991). Following the guidelines set by NASA SeaHARRE, we use an internal standard and replicate injects on the HPLC to track recovery and replicability of the pigment extraction methods. Data is unavailable for the Palmer 2009-2010 season due to instrumentation problems and for the Palmer 2011-2012 season due to a freezer failure which resulted in the loss of samples. There is a temporary data gap for the Palmer 2015-2016 and Palmer 2016-2017 seasons because those samples have not been analyzed yet.