KRILLBASE is a data rescue and compilation project which aims to improve the availability of information on two of the Southern Ocean''s most important zooplankton taxa: Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and salps (Family Salpidae). In 2016, the project released a database of information from 15,194 scientific net hauls, collected between 1926 and 2016 by scientists from ten countries. These data, on the density of Antarctic krill and salps, provide a resource for analysing the distribution and abundance of these taxa throughout the Southern Ocean, to support ecological and biogeochemical research as well as fisheries management and conservation. The data are available as a downloadable csv files and via a seachable web interface. Each row of the main data table represents either a net haul or a composite of several net hauls. The columns describe searchable and filterable sampling and environmental information as well as the krill and salp density. The krill data are presented as both the observed density (NUMBER_OF_KRILL_UNDER_1M2, no.m-2) and the density standardised to a single, relatively efficient sampling method (STANDARDISED_KRILL_UNDER_1M2, no.m-2). The salp data are presented as observed density for all species combined, where an individual can be either a solitary oozoid or a member of an aggregate chain (NUMBER_OF_SALPS_UNDER_1M2, no.m-2). 12,758 of the net hauls in the database include krill data, 9,726 include salp data. 7,295 of the net hauls include both krill and salp data. For hauls where data for either salps or krill were not available the relevant field is blank. The RECORD_TYPE column distinguishes between four types of record and we emphasise that every analysis of the data should first screen on this field to avoid using the same data twice. Most records are labelled "haul", and these result from a single net sampling the water column at a specific station. Others, labelled "stratified pooled haul", are the combined result of several (typically three) stratified hauls (labelled "stratified haul") sampling different parts of the water column. A small number of records, labelled "survey mean" represent the arithmetic mean densities from multiple stations as this was the only recoverable information from the relevant surveys, which were mainly conducted in the 1980s. The dataset is fully described in the following publication which should be cited in published analyses of these data: Atkinson A, Hill SL, Pakhomov E, Siegel V, Anadon R, Chiba S, Daly KL, Downie R, Fielding S, Fretwell P, Gerrish L, Hosie GW, Jessopp MJ, Kawaguchi S, Krafft BA, Loeb V, Nishikawa J, Peat HJ, Reiss CS, Ross RM, Langdon B Quetin, Schmidt K, Steinberg DK, Subramaniam RC, Tarling GA, Ward P (2017) KRILLBASE: a circumpolar database of Antarctic krill and salp numerical densities, 1926-2016. Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 9: 193-210 (doi:10.5194/essd-9-193-2017)

Quantification of morphological and reproductive traits in Astarte crenata and Ctenodiscus crispatus (oocyte size/gonad index), used in the analyses by Reed et al. 2021 (Ecology and Evolution) from the Western Barents Sea during summer 2017 across a North - South Transect intersecting the polar front.

This dataset contains data from a study of pteropod shell dissolution on individuals exposed to CO2-enriched seawater. The data include the amount of dissolution as well as the physical and chemical parameters on which carbonate chemistry parameters were calculated.

Measurements of benthic invertebrate particle reworking, bioirrigation, and associated nutrient concentrations used in the analyses by Solan et al. 2020 (see referenced publication) for shipboard incubations of replicate macrofaunal communities from the Western Barents Sea during summer 2017 and summer 2018. Samples were collected on cruises JR16006 and JR17007. Funding was provided by ''The Changing Arctic Ocean Seafloor (ChAOS) - how changing sea ice conditions impact biological communities, biogeochemical processes and ecosystems'' project (NE/N015894/1 and NE/P006426/1, 2017-2021), part of the NERC funded Changing Arctic Ocean programme.

Acoustic backscatter data were collected on board the RRS James Clark Ross (cruise JR177) as part of the Discovery 2010 programme. Data were collected using a Simrad EK60 echo sounder at 38, 120 and 200 kHz. The EK60 was run continuously from Stanley (Falkland Islands) to Signy (South Orkney Islands), then to South Georgia across the Scotia Sea in the austral summer from December 2007 - February 2008. Dedicated acoustic transects were also run at a number of stations within these transects. The EK60 was calibrated during JR177 (10-11th February 2008). More information about the calibration can be found in the Cruise Report for JR177: https://www.bodc.ac.uk/data/information_and_inventories/cruise_inventory/report/jr177.pdf JR177 was the second of three cruises which comprise the field studies of the British Antarctic Survey''s (BAS) core science Discovery 2010 programme, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council.

Acoustic backscatter data were collected on board the RRS James Clark Ross (cruise JR179) as part of the BIOFLAME-BIOPEARL programme. Data were collected using a Simrad EK60 echo sounder. Data were collected throughout the cruise which ran through the Drake Passage, Bellingshausen Sea and Amundsen Sea in the Southern Ocean, from February to April 2008. The raw data files (Simrad .raw format) are held by the Polar Data Centre (PDC) at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

Acoustic backscatter data were collected on board the RRS James Clark Ross (cruise JR161) as part of the Discovery 2010 programme. Data were collected using a Simrad EK60 echo sounder at 38, 120 and 200 kHz. The EK60 was run continuously from Stanley (Falkland Islands) to Signy (South Orkney Islands), then to South Georgia across the Scotia Sea in the austral spring (October - December) of 2006. Dedicated acoustic transects were also run at eight stations within these transects. The EK60 was calibrated prior to data collection on a previous cruise (JR159 on 13-14th October 2006). More information about the calibration can be found in the Cruise Report for JR159: https://www.bodc.ac.uk/data/information_and_inventories/cruise_inventory/report/jr152_jr159.pdf JR161 was the first of three cruises which comprise the field studies of the British Antarctic Survey''s (BAS) core science Discovery 2010 programme, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council.

Acoustic backscatter data were collected on board the RRS James Clark Ross (cruise JR200) as part of the Discovery 2010 programme. Data were collected using a Simrad EK60 echo sounder. This cruise ran two transects (Stanley to Signy and Signy to South Georgia) across the Scotia Sea in the austral autumn (March - April) of 2009. Within these transects, there were a series of stations at which dedicated acoustic transects were run, although the EK60 was run continuously throughout the cruise. JR200 was the third of three cruises which comprise the field studies of the Discovery 2010 programme. The programme was designed to analyse interactions in the Southern Ocean ecosystem. The raw data files (Simrad .raw format) are held by the Polar Data Centre (PDC) at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

These data are gonad index (gonad mass/total animal mass) and egg size measurements for two Antarctic marine invertebrates, the starfish Odontaster validus and the brittle star Ophionotus victoriae. Data are for samples hand-collected monthly, where weather permits, by scuba divers from sites near the British Antarctic Survey''s research station at Rothera Point, Adelaide Island. Samples were first collected in 1997 and have continued for 19 years to 2015.

This dataset comprises neodymium (Nd) isotopic compositions measured on 145 samples of aragonitic deep-sea corals from the Drake Passage of the Southern Ocean. Most of the samples were previously collected on expeditions NBP0805 and NBP1103 on the RV Nathaniel B. Palmer. The samples include glacial, deglacial and Holocene aged specimens and most are from 0-40 ka BP (thousand years before present) based on uranium-thorium dating. Neodymium isotope analyses were conducted by either thermal ionisation mass spectrometry (TIMS) or multi-collector inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) in the MAGIC laboratories at Imperial College London by David Wilson, Torben Struve and Tina van de Flierdt. In the modern ocean, dissolved Nd isotopes are a quasi-conservative water mass tracer, while past compositions of seawater are recorded in deep-sea corals. This dataset therefore provides evidence on the proportions of Atlantic versus Pacific waters admixed in the Southern Ocean through time, which places crucial constraints on global deep water chemistry and circulation dynamics during past climate events. Funding was provided by the NERC grant NE/N001141/1. Related datasets are associated with grant NE/N003861/1. Both grants funded the project "Bridging the Timing Gap: Connecting Late Pleistocene Southern Ocean and Antarctic Climate Records".