DOI: 10.5061/dryad.w0vt4b909
title: The FjordPhyto citizen science project in the Antarctic Peninsula

description: FjordPhyto, funded by the United States National Science Foundation (NSF)
 in 2016-2019 and by the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA)
 Citizen Science for Earth Systems Program IN 2021, is a citizen science
 project that examines the impacts of increasing glacier meltwater on local
 ecosystems at the ice-ocean interface of the Antarctic Peninsula (AP),
 with an emphasis on the western coast (WAP). The citizen science module is
 based on a collaboration with the International Association of Antarctica
 Tour Operators (IAATO). Citizen scientists participate in a “validation
 safari” in which satellite data informs sampling to validate and refine a
 new ocean color algorithm to detect the glacial meltwater content of
 seawater from space. The in-situ measurements are combined with remote
 sensing data products to address scientific questions related to the
 impacts of glacial meltwater on phytoplankton community abundance and
 taxonomic composition. This project implements new field sampling
 techniques and conducts analyses of phytoplankton diversity through a
 microscopic and genomics approach. The scientific goals of this Citizen
 Science project are to determine the spatial extent of glacial meltwater
 through the seasons and identify concomitant shifts in phytoplankton
 abundance and community diversity in coastal Antarctic waters. Repeated
 sampling of this region from November to March along 3-6 degrees of
 latitude (62° S to 65° S and down to 68° S) is only feasible with tourist
 ships, or through remote sensing. The addition of a remote sensing
 component, validated by citizen scientists, is crucial for describing
 long-term synoptic trends and variability in the abundance and
 spatio-temporal extent of phytoplankton in this region, and for discerning
 how these patterns are likely to alter in response to changes in climate.
 This study provides a foundation to better understand phytoplankton
 diversity under current and potential future ocean conditions, and lead to
 more robust predictions on potential impacts to upper trophic levels and
 biogeochemical cycling within this rapidly changing ecosystem.
description: Samples were collected by the FjordPhyto Citizen Science program
 (www.fjordphyto.org; Cusick et al. 2020), created in 2016-2017 with tour operator expedition vessel members of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) to collect oceanographic data from surface ocean waters. Samples were taken from November to March at numerous locations along the Antarctic Peninsula (AP), mostly in the western side, between King George Island (62° S, 58° W) and Marguerite Bay (near 68° S) with the help of travelers visiting the inshore (&lt; 0.2 km from shore) and nearshore (0.2 to 40 km from shore) regions in the WAP. Samples were collected from surface waters from an inflatable boat (e.g., a Zodiac) during their visits to the AP, from 2016 to present day, including a CTD (Conductivity-Temperature-Depth sensor) profile between 0 and down to 100m depth, determination of a Secchi depth, surface seawater fixed in Lugol's solution for microscopy analysis, a surface net tow (20-micron mesh) for genetic eDNA analysis (16S/18S). Other measurements were added in 2021, including water samples for seawater 18-Oxygen determination and optical properties with a HydroColor app.
description: # The FjordPhyto Citizen Science Project in the Antarctic Peninsula
 \[Access this dataset on Dryad]
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.w0vt4b909](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.w0vt4b909) ## General Information 1. Contact Information Maria Vernet ([mvernet@ucsd.edu](mailto:mvernet@ucsd.edu)), Allison Cusick ([all178@ucsd.edu](mailto:all178@ucsd.edu)), and Rick A. Reynolds ([rreynolds@ucsd.edu](mailto:rreynolds@ucsd.edu)); Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA Martina Mascioni ([marmascioni@gmail.com](mailto:marmascioni@gmail.com)); Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina Project Website: [https://www.fjordphyto.org](https://www.fjordphyto.org) 2. Dates of data collection: 10/2017 - 04/2025 3. Geographic location of data collection: Antarctic Peninsula 4. Funding sources that supported the collection of the data: NASA 80NSSC21K0856, NASA 80NSSC22K1914, NSF PLR-1443705, CONICET PIP 1195 (Argentina), Hurtigruten Foundation, and donors to UCSD CrowdSurf 5. Version History 2026-01-01 [CURRENT]: Initial submission of data and metadata for the 2021-2022, 2022-2023, and 2023-2024 field seasons; minor updates to format and changes in data files for the 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020 field seasons 2024-09-03: Initial submission of data and metadata for the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 field seasons; some corrections made to the SecchiDepths and StationLog files for the 2017-2018 field season 2024-01-22: Initial submission of data and metadata for the 2017-2018 field season ## Sharing/Access Information 1. Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain 2. Relevant publications that describe or use the data: * Pan, B. J., M. M. Gierach, S. Stammerjohn, O. Schofield, M. P. Meredith, R. A. Reynolds, M. Vernet, F. A. Haumann, A. J. Orona, and C. E. Miller. 2025. Impact of glacial meltwater on phytoplankton biomass along the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Communications Earth & Environment, 6, 456. doi: 10.1038/s43247-025-02435-6. * Mascioni, M., A. Cusick, M. V. Sanchez-Puerta, C. Johnson, H. Zheng, R. A. Reynolds, A. E. Allen, and G. O. Almandoz. 2025. An undescribed species within the Gymnodinium sensu stricto group found responsible for an exceptional bloom in the Southern Ocean. Journal of Phycology, 61(6), 1591–1600. doi: 10.1111/jpy.70089 * Cusick, A. M. 2025. Phytoplankton community succession in relation to salinity and temperature along the western Antarctic Peninsula: a four-year study leveraging participatory science. PhD dissertation, UC San Diego. ProQuest ID: Cusick_ucsd_0033D_24207. Merritt ID: ark:/13030/m57f4g5k. [https://escholarship.org/uc/item/10w902hq](https://escholarship.org/uc/item/10w902hq) * Lowe, J. 2025. Learning on Vacation: Knowledge Gain and the Value of Phytoplankton Sampling. MS thesis, Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, UC San Diego. [https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8w90q69h](https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8w90q69h) * Mascioni, M. 2023. La comunidad fitoplanctónica en zonas costeras previamente inexploradas del oeste de la Península Antártica (63° – 67° S). Composición, dinámica espacio-temporal y productividad. PhD dissertation, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina. [https://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/155649](https://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/155649) * Mascioni, M., A. Cusick, G. Almandoz, B.J. Pan and M. Vernet, 2023. Thermal front in the Gerlache Strait divides two distinct phytoplankton patterns in nearshore areas (64° - 65°S) of the western Antarctic Peninsula, Frontiers in Marine Science, 10, 1139203. doi: 10.3389/fmars 2023.1139293/full * Pan, B.J., Gierach, M. M., Meredith, M. P., Reynolds, R.A., Schofield, O., Orona, A.J., 2023. Remote sensing of sea surface glacial meltwater on the Antarctic Peninsula shelf. Frontiers in Marine Science, 10, 1209159. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2023.1209159. * Mascioni, M., G. O. Almandoz, L. Ekern, B. Pan, and M.Vernet. 2021. Microplanktonic diatom assemblages dominated the primary production but not the biomass in an Antarctic fjord. Journal Marine Systems 224, 103624. * Cusick, A.M., Gilmore, R., Bombosch, A., Mascioni, M., Almandoz, G.O. and Vernet, M., 2020. Polar tourism as an effective research tool. Oceanography, 33(1), pp.50-61. * Mascioni, M., Almandoz, G.O., Cefarelli, A.O., Cusick, A., Ferrario, M.E. and Vernet, M., 2019. Phytoplankton composition and bloom formation in unexplored nearshore waters of the western Antarctic Peninsula. Polar Biology, 42(10), pp.1859-1872. 3. Links to other publicly accessible locations of the data: None 4. Links/relationships to ancillary data sets: * Mascioni M., L. Kohler, A. O. Cefarelli, A. Cusick, T. Chavero, R. A. Reynolds, G. O. Almandoz, M. Vernet, and International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators. 2024. Phytoplankton microscopic observations from the FjordPhyto Citizen Science Project of the 2016-2017 Antarctic season. Version 1.2. Museo de La Plata. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) sampling event dataset. [https://doi.org/10.15468/xfgz72](https://doi.org/10.15468/xfgz72) * Mascioni, M., G. O. Almandoz, A. Cusick, L. Kohler, T. Chavero, R. A. Reynolds, and M. Vernet. 2024. Phytoplankton microscopic observations from the FjordPhyto Citizen Science Project of the 2017-2018 Antarctic season. Museo de La Plata. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). [https://doi.org/10.15468/k6zs88](https://doi.org/10.15468/k6zs88). * Mascioni, M., L. Kohler, A. Cusick, T. Chavero, R. A. Reynolds, G. O. Almandoz, M. Vernet, and the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators. 2024. Phytoplankton microscopic observations from the FjordPhyto Citizen Science Project of the 2018-2019 Antarctic season. Version 1.2. Museo de La Plata. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) sampling event dataset. [https://doi.org/10.15468/xxvhen](https://doi.org/10.15468/xxvhen) * Cusick, A., M. Mascioni, M. Vernet, and R. A. Reynolds. 2025. The FjordPhyto citizen science project: Metabarcoding raw sequence read data acquired by surface seawater net samples collected as part of the FjordPhyto citizen science project. National Center for Biotechnology Information, Accession: PRJNA1314243. 5. Recommended citation for this dataset: Vernet, M., R. A. Reynolds, A. Cusick, M. Mascioni, and G. Almandoz. 2026. The FjordPhyto Citizen Science Project in the Antarctic Peninsula. [Dataset]. Dryad. [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.w0vt4b909](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.w0vt4b909) ## Description of the data and file structure Sampling was conducted by the FjordPhyto Citizen Science program ([www.fjordphyto.org](http://www.fjordphyto.org); Cusick et al. 2020), created in 2016-2017 with tour operator expedition vessel members of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) to collect oceanographic data from surface ocean waters. Samples were taken from November to April at numerous locations along the Antarctic Peninsula (AP), mostly in the western side, between King George Island (62° S, 58° W) and Marguerite Bay (near 68° S) with the help of travelers visiting the inshore (&lt; 0.2 km from shore) and nearshore (0.2 to 40 km from shore) regions in the western AP. Measurements and surface water samples were collected using an inflatable boat (e.g., a Zodiac) during tour ship visits to the AP. Measurements included a CTD (Conductivity-Temperature-Depth sensor) profile between 0 and 100m depth, determination of Secchi disk depth, collection of surface seawater fixed in Lugol's solution for microscopy analysis, a surface net tow (20-micron mesh) for genetic eDNA analysis (16S/18S). Other measurements added in 2021 include collection of water samples for determination of stable oxygen isotopes (O18) in seawater for the estimation of meltwater content. Currently, data from five austral summer sampling seasons (2017-2018, 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2021-2022, 2022-2023, and 2023-2024; note that no sampling occurred during the 2020-2021 field season) are provided as a zipped archive of individual files for each season. Additional sampling seasons may be added in the future. All individual files are formatted as comma-separated values (CSV), with missing values identified with -999. Metadata describing the variables are included in the files, their definition, unit of measurement as well as the Darwin Core variable name ([www.DarwinCore.org](http://www.DarwinCore.org)) are included in the file header lines. A. Archive: FjordPhyto_XXXX-YYYY.zip where XXXX represents the starting year and YYYY the ending year for sampling. ``` - File: FjordPhyto_StationLog_XXXX-YYYY.csv Logbook summarizing the date, time, and location of all sampling events, the tour ship operator, and a listing of the types and number of samples taken. Each sampling event is assigned a unique ID code that is used as an identifier in other data files. - File: FjordPhyto_CTDCastLog_XXXX_YYYY.csv Logbook of information for vertical profiles of seawater conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) taken with a profiling instrument. The sampling location, time, instrument type, and corresponding data file names are listed (in some instances, multiple casts were taken at a given station). The actual CTD data files are found in the folder "CTD_files_XXXX-YYYY". - Folder: CTD_files_XXXX-YYYY This folder contains the individual CTD data files for each sampling event as described in the file FjordPhyto_CTDCastLog.csv. For 2017-2020, SonTek Castaway CTDs were used. Beginning in 2021, RBR Concerto CTDs equipped with an additional chlorophyll-a fluoresence sensor were added to the sampling effort. Each file starts with headerlines containing metadata such as instrument serial number, location and time, sampling rate, calibration information. Measured and derived variables include pressure [db], depth [m], temperature [deg C], conductivity [microSiemens per cm], specific conductance [microSiemens per cm], salinity [PSU], sound velocity [m/s], density [kg/m^3], and chlorophyll-a concentration [micrograms per L]. - File: FjordPhyto_SecchiDepths_XXXX-YYYY.csv Data file for measurements of Secchi disk depth. This file contains metadata and the following variables: unique ID code, date, time, location, ship operator, latitude, longitude, Secchi disk depth [m], estimated depth of ocean euphotic zone Zeu [m] - File: FjordPhyto_PlanktonMicroscopyData_XXXX-YYYY.csv This file contains cell abundance [cells/L] and estimates of carbon biomass [micrograms carbon/L] for different phytoplankton groups (cryptophytes, prasinophytes, small flagellates &lt; 5 um, diatoms, and dinoflagellates) determined from microscopic cell counts. Variables include unique ID code, date, time, location, ship operator, latitude, longitude, cell abundances for each phytoplankton group, total abundance, carbon biomass for each phytoplankton group, and total carbon biomass. Note that this data is not yet available for all field seasons. ``` **Please see the file "ReadMe_FjordPhyto.pdf" for a more detailed description of the FjordPhyto program, sampling locations and protocols, and descriptions of data.**