Benthic oxygen dynamics – incubations and uptake rates.

(1) Scottish Association for Marine Science

This data set contains incubations with sediment cores to determine benthic oxygen dynamics. The data were collected during four cruises on board the RRS Discovery to the Celtic Sea in March 2014 (DY008), March 2015 (DY021), May 2015 (DY030) and August 2015 (DY034). The author does not have any concerns over the quality of the data set and values are consistent with similar data reported in the wider literature. Shipboard incubation experiments conducted at four benthic sites (A, G, H, I) for four separate cruises allows high replication (n = 6) of core incubations on sediment collected using the NIOZ corer. Cores were incubated using megacores (internal diameter 10 cm, height 60 cm) for all sites, with smaller cores for station G in May and August (height 30 cm). Oxygen uptake rates were measured through oxygen consumption (measured continuously in the overlying water). Oxygen microelectrodes (Unisense) were used in each core at the end of the incubation to measure oxygen penetration depth and diffusive oxygen uptake rates. All procedures follow Glud (2008) Oxygen dynamics in marine sediments. The data were collected as part of the Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry (SSB) research programme as part of module 4 of the Biogeochemistry, Macronutrient and Carbon Cycling in the benthic layer (BMCC) research programme. SSB was co-funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The programme took a holistic approach to the cycling of nutrients and carbon and the controls on primary and secondary production in UK and European shelf seas, to increase understanding of these processes and their role in wider biogeochemical cycles. The data were collected by Natalie Hicks (DY021; DY034), Henrik Stahl (DY008) and Gangi Ubbara (DY030) of the Scottish Association for Marine Science. The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) created the metadata entry and is responsible for holding master copies of the data.