Antarctic Seawater Nutrient Concentrations from 2016 Circumnavigation

The Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE) collected dissolved inorganic nutrient concentrations in seawater during the Austral Summer of 2016/2017. The dataset includes nitrate, nitrite, silicate, and phosphate measurements from underway supply samples taken every 3 hours. It was created by Sandy J. Thomalla and published in 2020.

Use Cases

• Analyze spatial patterns of nitrate and phosphate concentrations to map nutrient availability across the Southern Ocean.
• Model silicate and nitrite levels as limiting factors for diatom and phytoplankton growth.
• Correlate nutrient concentrations from the underway seawater supply with other expedition data like chlorophyll or temperature.
• Establish baseline dissolved inorganic nutrient levels for the Austral Summer season in Antarctic waters.

Strengths

• Data collected during a full Antarctic circumnavigation, providing spatial coverage around the continent.
• Systematic sampling from the underway supply every 3 hours offers consistent temporal resolution.
• Concentrations for four key macronutrients (nitrate, nitrite, silicate, phosphate) are provided.

Limitations

• The dataset is small (0.0 B), indicating a limited number of samples or rows.
• Temporal coverage is restricted to a single season (Austral Summer 2016/2017).
• Unknown row count and lack of sample data preview limit assessment of data density and variance.

Provenance

Source

Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE), Legs 1-3.

Collection Method

Water samples collected from underway seawater supply, preserved and analyzed using flow injection and colorimetric methods.

Time Range

Austral Summer of 2016/2017.

Freshness

Data reflects conditions from 2016/2017, with metadata last updated in April 2026.

Geography

Southern Ocean, route of the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition.