Environmental data for correlation analysis explaining the abundance of Cryothecomonas

The datasets present new data from microscopic counts and selected nutrient and physical data assembled from the following cruises. Aboard the CCGS Amundsen: ArcticNet Expeditions 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010; International Polar Year (IPY) Circumpolar Flaw Lead Study 2008 and MALINA Project 2009 (French IPY project headed by Dr. M. Babin). Aboard the CCGS Louis St-Laurent: IPY Canada's Three Oceans 2007. Temporal coverage is Feb.-Nov., but varies by year, with the greatest sampling effort in July-Oct. Cryothecomonas abundance was measured by cell-counts using fluorescent in situ hybridization with a taxon-specific probe. Biomass of phototrophic and heterotrophic organisms, of different size classes, was obtained by counts of DAPI-stained cells under epifluorescence microscopy. Samples for total chlorophyll a (chl a) were filtered onto GF/F filters, extracted in either ethanol or acetone and analysed by spectrofluorometry. Chl a was also measured for the < 3 µm size fraction. CCGS Amundsen data: Temperature, salinity, oxygen, and photosynthetically active radiation were provided by Dr. Y. Gratton (Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Québec). Nitrate and Phosphate concentrations were provided by Dr. J.-É. Tremblay (Université Laval, Québec). CCGS Louis St-Laurent data were supplied by Drs. EC Carmack and John Nelson (Institute of Ocean Sciences, Sidney, B.C.). Distance to ice edge was obtained from the Canadian Ice Services (http://ice-glaces.ec.gc.ca).