This dataset shows chlorophyll-a levels associated with the benthic mats. Values are provided for various depths of Lake Hoare during the 1996-97 field season, both with and without correction for phaeopigments. Samples were obtained from an approximately linear transect stretching from the Lake Hoare, Taylor Valley, Antarctica laboratory complex towards the lake deepspot. These data are based on analysis of replicated 1.98 cm 2 cores of the pigmented surface layer of benthic microbial mats from Lake Hoare. Parallel experiments in which thicker cores were sectioned showed that this surface layer contained all chlorophyll-a present in the cores.
All depths refer to depth from the surface and are in meters.
Samples were obtained from an approximately linear transect stretching from the Lake Hoare laboratory complex towards the lake deepspot. Cores were collected through December 1996 by scuba divers. Initially, cores of 7 cm diameter were collected using sharpened perspex coring tubes. After retrieval to the surface, these were subsampled using sharpened, cut-off syringe barrels. Calculations were based on absorptance of the extract measured at 665, corrected by subtracting that at 750 nm.