Continuous depth-integrated fluorometric phytoplankton measurements in Lake Bonney, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica (2013-2017)

Phytoplankton are key primary producers in the photic zones of permanently ice-covered lakes in Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), playing a crucial role in regional carbon cycling. However, their seasonal dynamics remain poorly understood, particularly during winter, when the region is inaccessible to researchers. To address this gap, the Autonomous Lake Profiler and Samplers (ALPS) project, part of the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (MCM LTER) program, deployed sensors and samplers to collect year-round data on phytoplankton dynamics. This data package provides continuous, depth-integrated fluorometric measurements of phytoplankton communities in Lake Bonney from 2013 to 2017. A submersible spectrofluorometer (bbe Moldaenke FluoroProbe) was used to quantify the vertical distribution of key algal classes – brown/mixed algae, green algae, and cryptophytes – within the deep photic zone of the lake’s eastern (21–24 m) and western (16–24 m) lobes. Lake Bonney serves as a year-round refugium for life in extreme environments, but rapid lake level rise over the past three decades has introduced new uncertainties regarding phytoplankton community dynamics. These data contribute to ongoing efforts to understand how environmental change influences microbial ecology in polar aquatic ecosystems.