Between 1980 and 2009, marine macronutrient concentrations (silicate, Si(OH)4-Si; phosphate, PO4-P; nitrate, NO3-N; ammonium, NH4-N; and nitrite, NO2-N) and concurrent temperature and salinity were measured by British Antarctic Survey researchers as part of an integrated ecosystem investigation. Areas sampled included South Georgia and the wider Scotia Sea, around the Antarctic Peninsula, and in the Bellingshausen Sea. The data were collected from aboard the RRS John Biscoe or the RRS James Clark Ross during all months of the year with the exceptions of May and June. Samples were collected from CTD water bottles (vertical profiles) to maximum depth of 5400 m, and by monitoring continuously the ship''s non-toxic seawater supply (intake at 6 - 7 m) while the vessel was transecting. Analyses were performed immediately aboard ship and logged to computer while full data analysis was performed post-cruise using custom written software programmes.

The data collection was enabled through Natural Environment Research Council National Capability funding to the British Antarctic Survey. This was organised through a series of BAS programmes including the Offshore Biological Research programme, the DYNAMOE programme and the ECOSYSTEMS programme. Data creation was facilitated through a combination of NERC funding for Antarctic Logistics and Infrastructure (ALI) Science and the NERC Science Multi-Centre Round 2 (NCSM2) programme BIOPOLE (NE/W004933/1).