Phytoplankton occurrence and density in the Cariaco Basin (southeastern Caribbean Sea) November 1995 - January 2017: monthly data collected by the CArbon Retention In A Colored Ocean (CARIACO) Time-Series Program (NCEI Accession 0191567)

From November 1995 to January 2017 the CARIACO Ocean Time Series program studied the relationship between surface primary production (carbon fixation rates by photosynthesis of planktonic algae), regional hydrography, physical forcing variables (such as the wind), and the settling flux of particulate organic carbon in the Cariaco Basin, in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. One of the monthly measurements taken by the program was water samples for phytoplankton taxonomy (occurrence and density). Those water samples were collected with Niskin bottles during the CTD Cast 4 (the first cast of the morning) at 1, 7, 25, 35, 75, and 100 m depth. Phytoplankton taxonomy and density was determined at each depth at the level of species or genera. Values of zero (for the master of density) are real, and denote that an specific species was not found at that cruise/depth.