Bienhold, Christina; Kohlenbach, Katharina (2026): Benthic prokaryotic cell densities from Polarstern expedition PS138 to the Central Arctic Ocean during August-September 2023 [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.995157
Always quote citation above when using data! You can download the citation in several formats below.
Published: 2026-06-11 • DOI registered: 2026-07-29
Abstract:
Undisturbed sediment samples were obtained with a TV-guided multiple corer (TV-MUC). Upon retrieval of the MUC, the overlying water was carefully removed from each core and the upper few centimeters of sediment were cut using a steel plate and a custom-made plastic ring into the following depth horizons: 0-1 cm, 1-5 cm, 5-10 cm. For the determination of prokaryotic cell abundances, 2 ml sediment were fixed in 9 ml formaldehyde/seawater at a final concentration of 2-4% formaldehyde and stored at 4°C. Benthic prokaryotic cell abundances were determined using the Acridine Orange Direct Count (AODC) method (Meyer-Reil, 1983, doi:10.1007/BF00395813) following the protocol described in (Boetius and Damm, 1998, doi:10.1016/S0967-0637(97)00052-6; Hoffmann et al., 2017, doi:10.3389/fmicb.2017.00266). For 0-1 cm: 3 biological replicates, and 2 technical replicate filters per sample were counted. A total of 50 grids or at least 500 cells were counted per filter. For 1-5 cm: 2 biological replicates, and 2 technical replicate filters per sample were counted. A total of 50 grids or at least 250 cells were counted per filter.For 5-10 cm: 1 biological replicate, and 2 technical replicate filters per sample were counted. A total of 50 grids or at least 100 cells were counted per filter. Because cell numbers were so low in the deeper sediment layers, these numbers need to be treated with caution.
Related to:
Boetius, Antje; Bienhold, Christina (2024): The Expedition PS138 of the Research Vessel POLARSTERN to the Arctic Ocean in 2023. Berichte zur Polar- und Meeresforschung = Reports on Polar and Marine Research, 788, 288 pp, https://doi.org/10.57738/BzPM_0788_2024
References:
Boetius, Antje; Damm, Ellen (1998): Benthic oxygen uptake, hydrolytic potentials and microbial biomass at the Arctic continental slope. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 45(2-3), 239-275, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-0637(97)00052-6
Hoffmann, Katy; Hassenrück, Christiane; Salman-Carvalho, Verena; Holtappels, Moritz; Bienhold, Christina (2017): Response of bacterial communities to different detritus compositions in Arctic deep-sea sediments. Frontiers in Microbiology, 8, 266, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2017.00266
Meyer-Reil, L A (1983): Benthic response to sedimentation events during autumn to spring at a shallow water station in the Western Kiel Bight. Marine Biology, 77(3), 247-256, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00395813
Coverage:
Median Latitude: 85.936062 * Median Longitude: 84.281564 * South-bound Latitude: 82.908155 * West-bound Longitude: 31.548253 * North-bound Latitude: 89.945032 * East-bound Longitude: 130.170545
Date/Time Start: 2023-08-09T18:21:23 * Date/Time End: 2023-09-18T23:05:43
Minimum Elevation: -4375.0 m * Maximum Elevation: -3726.0 m
Event(s):
PS138_15-1 * Latitude Start: 84.037314 * Longitude Start: 31.548253 * Latitude End: 84.023533 * Longitude End: 31.849000 * Date/Time Start: 2023-08-09T18:21:23 * Date/Time End: 2023-08-09T21:44:56 * Elevation Start: -3992.0 m * Elevation End: -3991.0 m * O2A Registry URI: hdl:10013/sensor.5913e741-27df-4bf4-b77b-18787119bc8d * Campaign: PS138 (ArcWatch-1) * Basis: Polarstern * Method/Device: Multicorer with television (TVMUC) * Comment: IceStation #1
PS138_35-1 * Latitude Start: 84.918369 * Longitude Start: 80.248855 * Latitude End: 84.909741 * Longitude End: 80.239592 * Date/Time Start: 2023-08-15T23:47:20 * Date/Time End: 2023-08-16T03:37:35 * Elevation Start: -3736.0 m * Elevation End: -3734.0 m * O2A Registry URI: hdl:10013/sensor.5913e741-27df-4bf4-b77b-18787119bc8d * Campaign: PS138 (ArcWatch-1) * Basis: Polarstern * Method/Device: Multicorer with television (TVMUC) * Comment: IceStation #2
PS138_59-1 * Latitude Start: 84.690446 * Longitude Start: 107.306687 * Latitude End: 84.688536 * Longitude End: 107.307584 * Date/Time Start: 2023-08-20T15:30:05 * Date/Time End: 2023-08-20T18:30:42 * Elevation Start: -3726.0 m * Elevation End: -3731.0 m * O2A Registry URI: hdl:10013/sensor.5913e741-27df-4bf4-b77b-18787119bc8d * Campaign: PS138 (ArcWatch-1) * Basis: Polarstern * Method/Device: Multicorer with television (TVMUC) * Comment: IceStation #3
Parameter(s):
| # | Name | Short Name | Unit | Principal Investigator | Method/Device | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Event label | Event | ||||
| 2 | Latitude of event | Latitude | ||||
| 3 | Longitude of event | Longitude | ||||
| 4 | Date/Time of event | Date/Time | ||||
| 5 | Elevation of event | Elevation | m | |||
| 6 | Sample ID | Sample ID | Bienhold, Christina | |||
| 7 | Replicate, biological | Repl bio | Bienhold, Christina | |||
| 8 | Replicate, technical | Repl tech | Bienhold, Christina | |||
| 9 | Depth, sediment/rock, top/minimum | Depth sed top | m | Bienhold, Christina | ||
| 10 | Depth, sediment/rock, bottom/maximum | Depth sed bot | m | Bienhold, Christina | ||
| 11 | Prokaryotes, abundance as single cells | Prok cell abund | 109 #/cm3 | Bienhold, Christina | Acridine Orange Direct Counting (AODC) | |
| 12 | Comment | Comment | Bienhold, Christina |
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0) (License comes into effect after moratorium ends)
Status:
Curation Level: Enhanced curation (CurationLevelC)
Size:
770 data points