Seawater dissolved inorganic carbon and total alkalinity for UK Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry cruise CE15003.

(1) University of Southampton School of Ocean and Earth Science; (2) Marine Institute Galway; (3) National Oceanography Centre, Southampton; (4) Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Kiel (East Shore Campus)

This dataset contains 16 measurements of seawater dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity (TA) from the northwest European continental shelf sea to the west of Ireland (53 N, 9-14 W). The samples were collected in February and March 2015 by R/V Celtic Explorer cruise CE15003, as part of the UK Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry research programme (UK-SSB). The purpose was to constrain the near-surface DIC and TA concentrations, in order to calculate air-sea CO₂ fluxes. All measurements were carried out in August 2015 using a VINDTA 3C instrument (#038, Marianda, Germany) at the University of Southampton (UK). Bad results resulting from technical issues during analysis have been removed from these results, so there are no recognised issues. The data were collected as part of the SSB research programme in the CaNDyFloSS: Carbon and Nutrient Dynamics and Fluxes over Shelf Systems (NE/K00185X/1) research programme component. 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 British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) created the metadata entry and is responsible for holding master copies of the data.