Cellular elemental content of individual phytoplankton cells collected during US GEOTRACES North Atlantic Transect cruises in the Subtropical western and eastern North Atlantic Ocean during Oct and Nov, 2010 and Nov. 2011.

Abstract

Phytoplankton contribute significantly to global C cycling and serve as the base of ocean food webs. Phytoplankton require trace metals for growth and also mediate the vertical distributions of many metals in the ocean. This dataset provides direct measurements of metal quotas in phytoplankton from across the North Atlantic Ocean, known to be subjected to aeolian Saharan inputs and anthropogenic inputs from North America and Europe. Bulk particulate material and individual phytoplankton cells were collected from the upper water column (<150 m) as part of the US GEOTRACES North Atlantic Zonal Transect cruises (KN199-4, KN199-5, KN204-1A,B). The cruise tracks spanned several ocean biomes and geochemical regions. Chemical leaches (to extract biogenic and otherwise labile particulate phases) are combined together with synchrotron X-ray fluorescence (SXRF) analyses of individual micro and nanophytoplankton to discern spatial trends across the basin. Individual phytoplankton cells were analyzed for elemental content using SXRF (Synchrotron radiation X-Ray Fluorescence). Carbon was calculated from biovolume using the relationships of Menden-Deuer & Lessard (2000).