Gridded fish and macro-zooplankton NASC values (15 to 400 m depth range) for the Barents Sea (2011-2016)

Raw (calibrated as per Demer et al., 2015) Simrad EK60 echosounder data (18, 38 and 120 kHz; Kongsberg Maritime, Norway) collected annually in August and September between 2011 and 2016 as part of the Barents Sea Ecosystem Survey (Eriksen et al., 2018) were obtained from the Norwegian Marine Data Centre (Institute of Marine Research, Norway). The data were used to evaluate the StrathE2EPolar (an end-to-end food web model incorporating ice-dependencies to simulate climate-fisheries interactions in the Barents Sea) model. Echosounder data were calibrated and processed (noise removed). Nautical-area-scattering coefficient (NASC, m2 nmi-2: average received echo energy over a given depth range scaled up to a square nautical mile) values were computed between 15 m (maximum vessel draft plus echosounder near-field for all surveys, vessels and frequencies) and 400 m (lower extent of StrathE2EPolar model domain). NASC values at 18 kHz were used as a proxy for fish biomass. NASC values at 120 kHz and where NASC 120 kHz > 38 kHz > 18 kHz were used as a proxy for macro-zooplankton biomass. NASC values were binned into a 0.5 by 0.5-degree grid and averaged to map the spatial distribution of fish and macro-zooplankton.

Funded by NERC project Microbes to Megafauna Modelling of Arctic Seas (MiMeMo), NE/R012571/1 (lead), and NE/R012679/1.