Benthic macroinfaunal samples collected from the Canadian Coast Guard Ship (CCGS) Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Northern Bering Sea to Chukchi Sea, 2016

The Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean is experiencing major reductions in seasonal sea ice extent and increases in sea surface temperatures. One of the key uncertainties in this region is how the marine ecosystem will respond to seasonal shifts in the timing of spring sea ice retreat and/or delays in fall sea ice formation. Variations in upper ocean water hydrography, planktonic production, pelagic-benthic coupling and sediment carbon cycling are all influenced by sea ice and temperature change. To more systematically track the broad biological response to sea ice retreat and associated environmental change, an international consortium of scientists have developed a coordinated “Distributed Biological Observatory” (DBO) that includes selected biological measurements at multiple trophic levels, along with satellite and mooring measurements. The DBO currently focuses on five regional biological “hotspot” locations along a latitudinal gradient that allows for consistent sampling and monitoring at five biologically productive locations across a latitudinal gradient: DBO 1 (SLIP)-south of St. Lawrence Island (SLI), DBO2 (Chirikov)-north of SLI, DBO3 (southern Chukchi Sea), DBO4-NE Chukchi Sea,and DBO5-Barrow Canyon. This dataset contains benthic macroinfaunal population level from sediment samples collected at each station for the United States Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Healy cruise-Leg 1 in 2017, identified by station number (#), Station name (Stn. Name), Date (mm/dd/yy), latitude (°N), longitude (°W), and station depth (m). The following macroinfaunal parameters were determined: abundance, wet weight biomass (grams of wet weight per meters squared), dry weight biomass (grams of Carbon per meters squared), and taxon type.

北极太平洋海域正经历季节性海冰范围的大幅缩减与海表温度的显著上升。该区域的核心不确定性之一在于，海洋生态系统将如何响应春季海冰消退时间的季节性变化及/或秋季海冰形成的延迟。上层海洋水文特征、浮游生物生产、水层-底栖耦合及沉积物碳循环的变化均受海冰与温度变化的影响。为更系统地追踪海洋生物对海冰消退及相关环境变化的广泛响应，一个国际科学家联盟开发了协同性的“分布式生物观测站”（Distributed Biological Observatory，DBO），该观测站包含多营养级的选定生物测量数据，以及卫星与锚系测量数据。DBO目前聚焦于沿纬度梯度分布的五个区域生物“热点”位置，这些位置能够支持在跨纬度梯度的五个高生物生产力区域开展一致性采样与监测：DBO 1（SLIP）——圣劳伦斯岛（St. Lawrence Island，SLI）南部、DBO2（Chirikov）——SLI北部、DBO3（楚科奇海南部）、DBO4——楚科奇海东北部、DBO5——巴罗峡谷。本数据集包含2017年美国海岸警卫队“希利号” cutter（United States Coast Guard Cutter，USCGC）巡航第一航段期间，在各站点采集的沉积物样本中的大型底栖动物种群数据，数据通过站点编号（#）、站点名称（Stn. Name）、日期（mm/dd/yy）、纬度（°N）、经度（°W）及站点深度（m）进行标识。测定的大型底栖动物参数包括：丰度、湿重生物量（克湿重/平方米）、干重生物量（克碳/平方米）及分类单元类型。