Collection of inorganic nutrient, chlorophyll a and phaeopigments data from Svalbard coastal waters collected from a citizen science project in summers of 2018-2023

This is a collection of nutrient (silicate, phosphate, nitrite and nitrite + nitrate) and pigment (chlorophyll a and phaeopigments) data from coastal waters throughout the Svalbard archipelago collected onboard vessels of opportunity in the summers of 2018-2023. In 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023, seawater samples were collected by graduate students from the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) onboard expedition cruise vessels circumnavigating Svalbard for tourism. The dataset is also complemented by collections from a cruise onboard the Norwegian Coast Guard vessel KV Barentshav in 2021 at a time when the cruise industry halted due to the covid-19 pandemic. At each sampling location, seawater was collected using a Niskin bottle for nutrient and pigment analyses, typically at 15 m depth though some measurements are at other depths. This study was conducted in the frame of the project FACE-IT (The Future of Arctic Coastal Ecosystems – Identifying Transitions in Fjord Systems and Adjacent Coastal Areas). FACE-IT has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 869154.