Eurofleets+ CARBO-ACID cruise (SEA02_10): multibeam, CTD and multinet hydrographic datasets

The CARBO-ACID research cruise (EUROFLEETS+ SEA02_10) was carried out on the RV Ramón Margalef between August 2nd and August 11st, with departing from Vigo – Spain and ending in Lisbon – Portugal. The main objective of this cruise was to collect data and samples to study the potential effects of ocean acidification on carbonate marine organisms (coccolithophores, pteropods, planktonic and benthic foraminifera, and corals) along the Iberian margin. With this objective, oceanographic data and water samples, plankton, cold-water corals and sediment samples were collected during an upwelling season, along two transects coinciding with the two persistent upwelling filaments off the Iberia Margin: the Cape Finisterra and the Cape Roca. In this dataset is guiven all the acquired data recollected onboad.  During the CARBO-ACID cruise we did a total of 7 stations, 4 stations along the Cape Finisterra transect (from W to E: CA3, CA2, CA7, CA8) and 3 stations at the Cape Roca (from W to E: CA6, CA5, CA4) transect (Fig). At each station we usually started with a multibeam survey, a CTD and Rosette cast. These initial operations allowed to identify the different water masses present in this area, characterize their physical properties and to recover seawater samples at specific depth levels. The seawater samples were onboard subsampled, preserved in cold conditions or with chemicals and/ or filtered for several further analysis in the shore-based laboratories: DNA, chlorophyll, fitoplankton, coccolithophores, pH, alkalinity, stable isotopic composition, trace elements concentration and Suspend Particulate Matter. Subsequently to these operations, at each station, two vertical tows with a plankton multinet (with 5 nets) were done on the top 700 m of the water column to sample the planktonic communities of the different water depths. After this, sediment samples were recovered with a box-corer to study the past oceanographic conditions, between the pre-industrial Era and the Present, with multi-proxies used in paleoceanography and sedimentology. A total of 10 box-cores were recollected and each of them was onboard sub-sampled for eDNA, enzymes and benthic foraminifera. Fifteen shipek grab samples were recollected at the Fontanelas seamount (Estremadura Spur), station CA6, to characterize the sedimentary cover and to evaluate the presence of deep cold-water corals. Preliminary results show that the stations CA7, CA8 and CA4, located close to the coast, as expected, are the most influenced by the coastal upwelling, exhibiting colder surface water, higher values of fluorescence, and more zooplankton content reflecting higher phyto-zooplankton concentrations, as typical of the upwelling waters. At station CA4 temperature was higher and fluorescence showed lower values, indicative of less phytoplankton, and interpreted as indicating a different upwelling source water from that upwelled further north. Based on the CTD data, the Cape Roca transect is more influenced by the subtropical East North Atlantic Central Water (ENACWst), while the Cape Finisterra transect is more under the influence of the subpolar branch (ENACWsp). Seafloor sediment samples showed significant differences between the stations. Along the northern transect (Cape Finisterra) the seafloor sediments show an increase in grain size from the offshore to the coast. The offshore stations CA3 and CA2 revealed finer grained sediments, CA8 were composed of coarser sand and the station CA7, the shallowest station 77 m, presented the sediment composed mainly of shell fragments and coarse grain sand. Along the southern transect (Cape Roca), the offshore station CA6 (Fontanelas seamount) has coarser sandy sediments with rock clasts and cold-water coral fragments, and the stations CA5 and CA4 with fine sand to muddy sediments. The detailed CA6 bathymetry allowed to verify the existence of small plateaus on the slope of the Fontanelas seamount, where the fossil cold-water corals fragments were found, suggesting that this area is a very interesting system deserving further study with a ROV, and to characterize the corals fields and verify if there are live corals. These recollected data and samples will allow not only to reconstruct the pH variability under different environmental conditions, but also to estimate the biogeochemical changes along the coastal ocean waters as the anthropogenic influence increases. These results will contribute to better understand and model the effects on the biota under the future expected oceans pH changes.
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