An 8-year record of phytoplankton productivity and nutrient distributions from surface waters of Saanich Inlet.

Phytoplankton are the base of nearly all marine food webs and mediate the interactions of biotic and abiotic components in marine systems. Understanding the spatial and temporal changes in phytoplankton growth requires comprehensive biological, physical, and chemical information. Long-term datasets are an invaluable tool to study these changes, but they are rare and often include only a small set of measurements. Here, we present biological, physical and chemical oceanographic data measured periodically between March 2010 and November 2017 from the euphotic zone of Saanich Inlet, a temperate fjord on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. The dataset includes measurements of dissolved macronutrients, total and size-fractionated chlorophyll-a, particulate carbon, nitrogen and biogenic silica, and carbon and nitrate uptake rates. This collection describes phytoplankton dynamics and the distribution of biologically-available macronutrients over time in the upper water column of Saanich Inlet. We establish a baseline for future investigations in Saanich Inlet and provide a data collection protocol that can be applied to similar productive coastal regions. Measurement(s) chlorophyll a • biogenic silica • carbon uptake • nitrogen uptake • particulate carbon • particulate nitrogen • inorganic macronutrient dissolved in ocean water • concentration of silicic acid in ocean water Technology Type(s) fluorometer • ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry • elemental analysis and isotope ratio mass spectrometry • nutrient autoanalyzer Sample Characteristic - Organism Bacillariophyta • Dinophyceae • Chlorophyceae Sample Characteristic - Environment estuary • coastal inlet Sample Characteristic - Location Vancouver Island • North East Pacific Ocean coastal waters of Southern British Columbia, Washington and Oregon • Province of British Columbia [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]