Sea-ice meiofauna biodiversity from the Nansen Legacy joint cruise JC2-2 (cruise number: 2021710)

The data was collected during the Nansen Legacy joint cruise (JC2-2, cruise number: 2021710) from 24.08 - 25.09.2021 onboard the research vessel RV Kronprins Haakon, along a transect in the Arctic Basin from 81N to 87N. The dataset contains abundance and biomass of sea-ice meiofauna (> 20 µm) including large protists such as foraminifers and ciliates and metazoans eggs. Sea-ice meiofauna were identified and counted with stereo microscopy and result are given as Individuals per liter (cells/L) and Individuals per square meter (Ind/m2). Biomass (μg C Ind.-1) was only determined for alive individuals according to carbon contents for ice meiofauna taxa based on literature summarized in Ehrlich et al. (2021, doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2020.00169), and carbon values for foraminifers were provided by de Freitas et al. (2021) for benthic species (Bolivinia sp.: 0.00875 μg C Ind.-1; Elphidium sp.: 0.126 μg C Ind.-1, https://doi.org/10.2113/gsjfr.51.4.249) and Anglada-Ortiz et al. (submitted to PiO) for the pelagic species Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (0.0013 μg C Ind.-1).