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Abstract.A global pigment database consisting of 35 634 pigment suites measured by high performance liquid chromatography was assembled in support of the MARine Ecosytem DATa (MAREDAT) initiative. These data originate from 136 field surveys within the global ocean, were solicited from investigators and databases, compiled, and then quality controlled. Nearly one quarter of the data originates from the Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche (LOV), with an additional 17 % and 19 % stemming from the US JGOFS and LTER programs, respectively. The MAREDAT pigment database provides high quality measurements of the major taxonomic pigments including chlorophylls a and b, 19'-butanoyloxyfucoxanthin, 19'-hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin, alloxanthin, divinyl chlorophyll a, fucoxanthin, lutein, peridinin, prasinoxanthin, violaxanthin and zeaxanthin, which may be used in varying combinations to estimate phytoplankton community composition. Quality control measures consisted of flagging samples that had a total chlorophyll a concentration of zero, had fewer than four reported accessory pigments, or exceeded two standard deviations of the log-linear regression of total chlorophyll a with total accessory pigment concentrations. We anticipate the MAREDAT pigment database to be of use in the marine ecology, remote sensing and ecological modeling communities, where it will support model validation and advance our global perspective on marine biodiversity. The original dataset together with quality control flags as well as the gridded MAREDAT pigment data may be downloaded from PANGAEA: http://doi.pangaea.de/10. 1594/PANGAEA.793246.

Observations from hydrographic surveys are used to describe the density current flowing through the Dardanelles strait into the Marmara Sea. Aegean water plunges below the surface and flows into the Marmara Sea. This flow joins into the Marmara Sea as a negatively buoyant plume and sinks through the deeper parts. Seasonal variation in the incoming water density results in the observing mainly two different forms of the density current in this area. These two forms are boundary currents and intrusion. Boundary currents were observed as a dense bottom current during the winter when the inflowing water density attains to annual maxima and as an overflow during the autumn when the inflowing water density drops to annual minimum. Intrusion form of the density current was observed during the summer. RésuméDes observations de campagnes hydrographiques permettent de décrire le courant de densité traversant le détroit des Dardanelles vers la mer de Marmara. Les eaux égéennes plongent et se répandent dans la mer de Marmara. Ce flux constitue, en mer de Marmara, une « plume » à flottabilité négative qui plonge vers les zones les plus profondes. Une variation saisonnière de la densité de l'eau entrante conduit à deux types de circulation dans cette zone. Ces deux formes sont des courants de bordure et une intrusion. Les courants de bordure constituent un courant de fond dense durant l'hiver, quand la densité de l'eau entrante atteint son maximum annuel, et comme un surcourant en automne, quand la densité de l'eau entrante s'abaisse à sa valeur minimale. Des formes d'intrusion du courant de densité sont observées en été.

The Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT), sampling between 50°N and 50°S, is a trans‐oceanic research programme to characterize plankton community structure, productivity and bio‐optical properties of the upper ocean in relation to ocean provinces and meso‐scale features. As part of a suite of continuous measurements, an optical plankton counter (OPC) has been used on the AMT to characterize the surface distribution of zooplankton based on their abundance and community size structure. Results from the OPC were available in real time, and were subsequently validated against microscope counts of zooplankton sampled concurrently along the AMT. Zooplankton community size structure from two sections of the Transect are presented: from the northern edge of upwelling off West Africa to the UK shelf and between the Falkland Islands and Uruguay, where the Transect traversed a warm core ring. Results showing the zooplankton community size structure together with statistical analysis, using principal component analysis (PCA), are compared with the dynamic oceanographic characteristics along the Transect. The application of the OPC for such basin‐scale studies provides a methodology for obtaining data on zooplankton abundance and community structure at the appropriate spatial scales for global‐scale modelling of the marine ecosystem.

A buoy system has been developed to continually monitor the operationally demanding coastal and open-shelf environment of the western English Channel. The buoys measure a range of physical and biogeochemical parameters on an hourly basis at two established long-term monitoring sites and the data are relayed to shore in near–real time using radio communications. This paper describes the technological challenges faced in such long-term marine deployments including the mooring design, warning systems, command and control, and radio communications, and how each were overcome. The fine temporal frequency data are used within an operational oceanography context, will underpin the long-term sustained observations in the western English Channel, and will form the basis of improvements to finescale ecosystem modeling to better predict any changes in the U.K. shelf seas.