Field observations and qPCR results of sea surface microlayer bacterial samples, Gulf of Mexico, February 2016

These data include qPCR results from the sea surface microlayer bacterial samples collected in February 2016 during the laser cruise in the Gulf of Mexico. Sea surface microlayer and subsurface water samples were taken using polycarbonate filters. DNA was extracted from each filter and run through qPCR against Bacillus spp.; Bacillus is a well-known surfactant-associated bacterial genus. The cycle count generated by the qPCR software can be input into an equation to determine relative abundance. See readme file for information on exact sampling locations and other important details.