Dissolved trace metal and macronutrient concentrations from field samples collected during the EXPORTS North Atlantic campaign at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain-Sustained Observatory (PAP-SO) site on board the RRS Discovery (DY131) in May 2021

Abstract

This dataset includes dissolved trace metal (manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, cadmium, zinc, lead) and macronutrient (nitrate+nitrite, phosphate, silicic acid, nitrite) concentration data from field samples collected during the EXPORTS North Atlantic campaign at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain-Sustained Observatory (PAP-SO) site on board the RRS Discovery (DY131). These data were primarily collected opportunistically during the course of water collection for incubation experiments (see separate dataset for incubations), and provide field context for the shipboard incubation experiments as well as temporal characterization of a retentive anticyclonic eddy occupied over the course of the cruise.

This research focuses on the vertical export of the carbon associated with a major group of phytoplankton, the diatoms in the North Atlantic near the Porcupine Abyssal Plain. The major objective is to understand how diatom community composition and the prevailing nutrient conditions create taxonomic differences in metabolic state that combine to direct diatom taxa to different carbon export pathways. The focus is on diatoms, given their large contribution to global marine primary productivity and carbon export which translates into a significant contribution to the biogeochemical cycling of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), iron (Fe) and silicon (Si). It is hypothesized that the type and degree of diatom physiological stress are vital aspects of ecosystem state that drive export. To test this hypothesis, combined investigator expertise in phytoplankton physiology, genomics, and trace element chemistry is used to assess the rates of nutrient use and the genetic composition and response of diatom communities, with measurements of silicon and iron stress to evaluate stress as a predictor of the path of diatom carbon export. The EXPORTS field campaign in the North Atlantic sampled a retentive eddy over nearly a month in May 2021, which coincided with the decline of the North Atlantic Spring Bloom.

For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/954941