CTD data from McMurdo Sound, Antarctica from 2012 to 2015 (McMurdo Predator Prey project)

Abstract

CTD data were collected as part of an ecosystem study in McMurdo Sound, which is located at the southern extent of the Ross Sea in the Southern Ocean. The major goal of this multi-disciplinary project was to assess the influence of top−down forcing (predation) on pelagic zooplankton and fish. During the first year (3 November 2012 – 21 January 2013), the CTD was deployed through ice core holes in the fast ice (sea ice attached to land), sampling from near surface to depths between 97 and 175 m. Stations were located along a transect in the middle of McMurdo Sound, perpendicular to the fast ice edge. In the second year (17 November 2014 – 1 January 2015), CTD casts were deployed between 100 and 254 m in depth, at stations along the fast ice edge, and along three transects into the fast ice along the eastern side of McMurdo Sound (Ross Island), in the middle of the Sound, and on the western side of the Sound. Chlorophyll fluorescence sensor measurements on the CTD casts were only made during the 2014/2015 field expedition. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the supplemental document 'Field_names.pdf', and a full dataset description is included in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: http://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/680929