Coccolithophore community composition and abundance by light microscopy from CTD bottles and surface underway samples during the Atlantic Meridional Transect AMT19 (JC039) cruise in October-December 2009

This dataset contains coccolithophore abundance data from CTD bottles and surface underway samples collected during the JC039 cruise in the Atlantic between Falmouth, UK and Punta Arenas, Chile in October-December 2009. Niskin samples were collected during the pre-dawn CTD (second cast of the day) from six light depths (1%, 7%, 14%, 33%, 55%, 97%) and from two deeper (down to 200 m) depths for coccolith enumeration. Samples were collected from the non-toxic water supply 3 times per day, approximately every 3 to 4 hours spaced between CTD stations. Coccolith and cell counts were collected on Millipore HA (nitrocellulose) filters which were rinsed with a potassium tetraborate buffer and frozen at 20 °C. Samples were then dried and mounted onto slides using Norland Optical Adhesive. These were then enumerated by birefringence microscopy (Balch et al. 2011). These data were collected by scientists from the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and contribute to the Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) project.