Zooplankton abundance and size structure in the North Atlantic from MSM26_126-3@en

Data on zooplankton abundance and biovolume were collected in concert with data on the biophysical environment at 9 stations in the North Atlantic, from the Iceland Basin in the East to the Labrador Sea in the West. The data were sampled along vertical profiles by a Laser Optical Plankton Counter (LOPC, Rolls Royce Canada Ltd.) that was mounted on a carousel water sampler together with a Conductivity-Temperature-Depth sensor (CTD, SBE19plusV2, Seabird Electronics, Inc., USA) and a fluorescence sensor (F, ECO Puck chlorophyll a fluorometer, WET Labs Inc., USA). Based on the LOPC data, abundance (individuals/m**3) and biovolume (mm3/m**3) were calculated as described in the LOPC Software Operation Manual [(Anonymous, 2006), http://www.brooke-ocean.com/index.html]. LOPC data were regrouped into 49 size groups of equal log10(body volume) increments, see Edvardsen et al. (2002, doi:10.3354/meps227205). LOPC data quality was checked as described in Basedow et al. (2013, doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2012.10.005). Fluorescence was roughly converted into chlorophyll based on filtered chlorophyll values obtained from station 10 in the Labrador Sea. Due to the low number of filtered samples that was used for the conversion the resulting chlorophyll values should be considered with care. CTD data were screened for erroneous (out of range) values and then averaged to the same frequency as the LOPC data (2 Hz). All data were processed using especially developed scripts in the python programming language. The LOPC is an optical instrument designed to count and measure particles (0.1 to 30 mm equivalent spherical diameter) in the water column, see Herman et al., (2004, doi:10.1093/plankt/fbh095). The size of particles as equivalent spherical diameter (ESD) was computed as described in the manual (Anonymous, 2006), and in more detail in Checkley et al. (2008, doi:10.4319/lo.2008.53.5_part_2.2123) and Gaardsted et al. (2010, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2419.2010.00558.x).

本数据集采集了北大西洋9个站位的浮游动物丰度与生物体积数据，同时配套采集了其生物物理环境数据，站位范围东起冰岛盆地，西至拉布拉多海。
数据通过垂直剖面采样获取，搭载设备包括加拿大罗尔斯·罗伊斯有限公司（Rolls Royce Canada Ltd.）生产的激光光学浮游生物计数器（Laser Optical Plankton Counter，LOPC），以及安装在旋转式采水器上的电导率-温度-深度传感器（Conductivity-Temperature-Depth，CTD，型号SBE19plusV2，美国Seabird Electronics, Inc.）与荧光传感器（F，型号ECO Puck叶绿素a荧光计，美国WET Labs Inc.）。
基于LOPC数据，本数据集按照LOPC软件操作手册（Anonymous, 2006, http://www.brooke-ocean.com/index.html）中的方法，计算得到浮游动物丰度（单位：个/立方米）与生物体积（单位：立方毫米/立方米）。
将LOPC数据按相等的log₁₀(个体体积)增量划分为49个尺寸组别，详细方法参见Edvardsen等人(2002, doi:10.3354/meps227205)。
LOPC数据的质量控制流程参照Basedow等人(2013, doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2012.10.005)中的方法执行。
荧光信号基于拉布拉多海10号站位获取的过滤叶绿素数据，近似转换为叶绿素浓度。由于用于转换的过滤样本量较少，对最终得到的叶绿素浓度值需谨慎解读。
对CTD数据进行异常值（超出量程范围）筛查，随后将其平均频率匹配至与LOPC数据一致的2Hz。
所有数据均通过Python编程语言编写的专属脚本完成处理。
LOPC是一款用于水体中颗粒物计数与粒径测量的光学仪器，可检测等效球形直径（equivalent spherical diameter, ESD）介于0.1~30 mm的颗粒物，详细原理参见Herman等人(2004, doi:10.1093/plankt/fbh095)。
颗粒物等效球形直径（ESD）的计算方法参照操作手册（Anonymous, 2006），详细推导过程可参见Checkley等人(2008, doi:10.4319/lo.2008.53.5_part_2.2123)与Gaardsted等人(2010, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2419.2010.00558.x)。