Sea-ice meiofauna biodiversity from the Micro-SHIFT cruise May 2025 (cruise number: 2025007006): individual counts, abundance and biomass

Sampling event Observation
Latest version published by UiT The Arctic University of Norway on Aug 25, 2026 UiT The Arctic University of Norway

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 13 records in English (25 KB) - Update frequency: not planned
Metadata as an EML file download in English (16 KB)
Metadata as an RTF file download in English (11 KB)

Description

The data was collected during the Micro-SHIFT cruise in May 2025 (cruise number: MS7006) onboard the research vessel RV Kronprins Haakon (cruise report: https://data.npolar.no/dataset/90e39c2b-fd7f-44d7-a58c-866f8dea66de). The expedition was a 20-day drift study. The dataset contains individual countas, abundance and biomass of sea-ice meiofauna (> 20 µm) including metazoans eggs and large protists such as foraminifers and ciliates. Sea-ice meiofauna were identified and counted with a stereo microscopy and results are given as Individuals per liter (cells/L) and Individuals per square meter (Ind/m2). Biomass (μg C Ind.-1 per L and per m2) was only determined for alive individuals according to carbon contents for ice meiofauna taxa based on literature according to Marquardt et al. 2023 and references within in (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2023.103128).

Data Records

The data in this sampling event resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 13 records.

2 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.

Event (core)
13
ExtendedMeasurementOrFact 
364
Occurrence 
106

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Huntscha H, Marquardt M, Svensen C (2026). Sea-ice meiofauna biodiversity from the Micro-SHIFT cruise May 2025 (cruise number: 2025007006): individual counts, abundance and biomass. Version 1.3. UiT The Arctic University of Norway. Samplingevent dataset. https://doi.org/10.21334/NPOLAR.2026.2823A0C8

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is UiT The Arctic University of Norway. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 1f6d6d1e-1861-42ab-a3c5-cb32286278ae.  UiT The Arctic University of Norway publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF Norway.

Keywords

Samplingevent; occurrence; sea-ice protist; sea-ice meiofauna; sympagic; Central Arctic Ocean; sea ice; Micro-SHIFT; Observation

Contacts

Hanna Huntscha
  • Originator
UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Miriam Marquardt
  • Originator ●
  • Point Of Contact
UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Camilla Svensen
  • Originator
UiT The Arctic University of Norway

Geographic Coverage

North of Svalbard, Central Arctic Ocean

Bounding Coordinates South West [83.15, 19.856], North East [83.853, 21.884]

Taxonomic Coverage

No Description available

Kingdom Chromista, Animalia
Phylum Mollusca, Arthropoda, Rotifera, Ciliophora
Class Spirotrichea, Copepoda, Eurotatoria, Malacostraca, Gastropoda
Order Amphipoda, Calanoida, Harpacticoida, Ploima, Pteropoda, Cyclopoida, Tintinnida
Family Synchaetidae, Calanidae, Oithonidae, Clionidae, Clausocalanidae, Oncaeidae, Calliopiidae

Project Data

Cruise report: https://data.npolar.no/dataset/90e39c2b-fd7f-44d7-a58c-866f8dea66de

Title Micro-SHIFT
Funding This study was funded by the Research Council of Norway through the project BREATHE (RCN # 325405) and the ERC StG Micro-SHIFT (No. 101162830).
Study Area Description North of Svalbard, Central Arctic Ocean

The personnel involved in the project:

Miriam Marquardt

Sampling Methods

Ice cores were taken for the determination of abundance and biomass of sea-ice meiofauna and protists (lowermost 5 cm) every four days during a 20-day drift study. Three ice cores were taken from undeformed level ice areas with a KOVACS ice corer (Mark II coring system, diameter 9 cm) and were cut on the snow-free sea ice, only the 0-5 cm (bottom ice layer) section was collected. All sea-ice core sections were melted in the dark and at 4°C within 24-28 h to and to reduce negative impacts related to osmotic stress 100 ml filtered seawater (< 0.22 µm) was initially added per 1 cm section.

Study Extent North of Svalbard, Central Arctic Ocean

Method step description:

  1. The dataset contains individual countas, abundance and biomass of sea-ice meiofauna (> 20 µm) including metazoans eggs and large protists such as foraminifers and ciliates. Sea-ice meiofauna were identified and counted with a stereo microscopy and results are given as Individuals per liter (cells/L) and Individuals per square meter (Ind/m2). Biomass (μg C Ind.-1 per L and per m2) was only determined for alive individuals according to carbon contents for ice meiofauna taxa based on literature according to Marquardt et al. 2023 and references within in (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2023.103128).

Collection Data

Collection Name Sea-ice meiofauna biodiversity from the Micro-SHIFT cruise May 2025 (cruise number: 2025007006)
Specimen preservation methods Alcohol,  Formalin
Curatorial Units Between 0 and 111 Individuals

Additional Metadata

Acknowledgements
Purpose