A database of zooplankton abundance in the Atlantic sectors of the Southern and sub-Arctic Oceans

Scientific sampling of zooplankton in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean has been undertaken since the 1920s but few analysed datasets are available to the research community. We provide a database of standardised data derived from samples collected by Bongo nets in this sector between 1996 and 2013, amounting to almost 94,000 individual records. The study region contains some of the highest levels of pelagic biomass in the Southern Ocean and is also undergoing rapid ocean warming and changing seasonality in sea-ice distribution. Data from a single expedition to the sub-Arctic where the same sampling methodology was used is also included. Atlantic water is an increasing influence in that region, as is the prevalence of boreal plankton taxa within Arctic plankton communities. These data will be of value in supporting studies assessing the impacts of climate change on the structure and function of polar pelagic systems.