The FjordPhyto citizen science project in the Antarctic Peninsula

# The FjordPhyto Citizen Science Project in the Antarctic Peninsula \[Access this dataset on Dryad] ## General Information 1. Contact Information Maria Vernet (), Allison Cusick (), Rick A. Reynolds () Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA Martina Mascioni () Universidad Nacional del La Plata, La Plata, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina Project Website: 2. Dates of data collection: 10/2017 - 03/2018 3. Geographic location of data collection: Antarctic Peninsula 4. Funding sources that supported the collection of the data: NASA 80NSSC21K0856, NASA 80NSSC22K1914, NSF PLR-1443705, CONICET PIP 1195 (Argentina), Hurtigruten Foundation, and donors to UCSD CrowdSurf 5. Version History 2024-01-22: Submission of data and metadata for the 2017-2018 field season ## Sharing/Access Information 1. Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain 2. Relevant publications that describe or use the data: * Cusick, A.M., Gilmore, R., Bombosch, A., Mascioni, M., Almandoz, G.O. and Vernet, M., 2020. Polar tourism as an effective research tool. Oceanography, 33(1), pp.50-61. * Mascioni, M., Almandoz, G.O., Cefarelli, A.O., Cusick, A., Ferrario, M.E. and Vernet, M., 2019. Phytoplankton composition and bloom formation in unexplored nearshore waters of the western Antarctic Peninsula. Polar Biology, 42(10), pp.1859-1872. * Mascioni, M., G. O. Almandoz, L. Ekern, B. Pan, and M.Vernet. Microplanktonic diatom assemblages dominated the primary production but not the biomass in an Antarctic fjord. Journal Marine Systems 224,103624, 2021 * Mascioni, M., A. Cusick, G. Almandoz, B.J. Pan and M. Vernet, 2023. Thermal front in the Gerlache Strait divides two distinct phytoplankton patterns in nearshore areas (64° - 65°S) of the western Antarctic Peninsula, Frontiers in Marine Science, 10, 1139203. doi: 10.3389/fmars 2023.1139293/full * Pan, B.J., Gierach, M. M., Meredith, M. P., Reynolds, R.A., Schofield, O., Orona, A.J., 2023. Remote sensing of sea surface glacial meltwater on the Antarctic Peninsula shelf. Frontiers in Marine Science, 10, 1209159. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2023.1209159. 3. Links to other publicly accessible locations of the data: None at this time 4. Links/relationships to ancillary data sets: None at this time 5. Recommended citation for this dataset: Vernet, M., R. A. Reynolds, A. Cusick, M. Mascioni, and G. Almandoz. 2024. The FjordPhyto Citizen Science Project in the Antarctic Peninsula. [Dataset]. Dryad. ## Description of the data and file structure Sampling was conducted by the FjordPhyto Citizen Science program ([www.fjordphyto.org](http://www.fjordphyto.org); Cusick et al. 2020), created in 2016-2017 with tour operator expedition vessel members of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) to collect oceanographic data from surface ocean waters. Samples were taken from November to March at numerous locations along the Antarctic Peninsula (AP), mostly in the western side, between King George Island (62°S, 58°W) and Marguerite Bay (near 68°S) with the help of travelers visiting the inshore (<0.2 km from shore) and nearshore (0.2 to 40 km from shore) regions in the WAP. Samples were collected from surface waters from an inflatable boat (e.g., a Zodiac) during their visits to the AP, from 2016 to present day, including a CTD (Conductivity-Temperature-Depth sensor) profile between 0 and down to 100m depth, determination of a Secchi depth, surface seawater fixed in Lugol for microscopy analysis, a surface net tow (20-micron mesh) for genetic eDNA analysis (16S/18S). Other measurements were added in 2021, water samples for seawater 18-Oxygen determination and optical properties with a HydroColor app. Currently, only data from the 2017-2018 austral summer sampling season are provided as a zipped archive of individual files. Additional sampling seasons will be added in the future. All individual files are formatted as comma-separated values (CSV), with missing values identified with -999. Metadata describing the variables included in the files, their definition, unit of measurement as well as the Darwin Core variable name ([www.DarwinCore.org](http://www.DarwinCore.org)) are included in the file header lines. A. Archive: FjordPhyto_2017-2018.zip - File: FjordPhyto_StationLog.csv Logbook summarizing the date, time, and location of all sampling events, the tour ship operator, and a listing of the types and number of samples taken. Each sampling event is assigned a unique ID code that is used as an identifier in other data files. - File: FjordPhyto_CTDCastLog.csv Logbook of information for vertical profiles of seawater conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) taken with a profiling instrument. The sampling location, time, instrument type, and corresponding data file names are listed (in some instances, multiple casts were taken at a given station). The actual CTD data files are found in the folder "CTD_files_2017-2018". - Folder: CTD_files_2017-2018 This folder contains the individual CTD data files for each sampling event as described in the file FjordPhyto_CTDCastLog.csv. Each file starts with headerlines containing metadata such as instrument serial number, location and time, sampling rate, calibration information. Measured and derived variables include pressure [db], depth [m], temperature [deg C], conductivity [microSiemens per cm], specific conductance [microSiemens per cm], salinity [PSU], sound velocity [m/s], and density [kg/m^3]. - File: FjordPhyto_SecchiDepths.csv Data file for measurements of Secchi disk depth. This file contains metadata and the following variables: unique ID code, date, time, location, ship operator, latitude, longitude, Secchi disk depth [m], estimated depth of ocean euphotic zone Zeu [m] - File: FjordPhyto_PlanktonMicroscopyData.csv This file contains cell abundance [cells/L] and estimates of carbon biomass [micrograms carbon/L] for different phytoplankton groups (cryptophytes, prasinophytes, small flagellates < 5 um, diatoms, and dinoflagellates) determined from microscopic cell counts. Variables include unique ID code, date, time, location, ship operator, latitude, longitude, cell abundances for each phytoplankton group, total abundance, carbon biomass for each phytoplankton group, and total carbon biomass. **Please see the file "ReadMe_FjordPhyto.pdf" for a more detailed description of the FjordPhyto program, sampling locations and protocols, and descriptions of data.**