LTER HAUSGARTEN data on biogenic sediment compounds from 1999 to 2015

The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) established the LTER (Long-Term Ecological Research) observatory HAUSGARTEN in the Fram Strait between NE Greenland and the Svalbard archipelago to detect and track the effects of large-scale environmental changes on the marine ecosystem in the transition zone between the northern North Atlantic and the central Arctic Ocean. Since 1999, repeated sampling in the water column and on the seafloor during annual expeditions during the summer months has been complemented by continuous sampling and measurements throughout the year using autonomous instruments on moored devices. Time series studies at the HAUSGARTEN observatory provide insights into processes and dynamics within an Arctic marine ecosystem and serve as a baseline for further investigations of ongoing changes in the Fram Strait (Soltwedel et al. 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.10.001). The data presented here were analysed from benthic samples collected at stations of the deep-sea observatory LTER HAUSGARTEN between 1999 and 2015. The data include biochemical analyses of sediment samples to estimate the input of phytodetrital matter to the seafloor as a food/energy source and to assess the activities and biomasses of the small sediment-inhabiting biota (for analytical methods see Hasemann et al., 2013, doi: 10.1080/17451000.2012.739694).