Multidisciplinary field campaigns were carried out in the Fram Strait region during late summer 2019 (JR18007, 04/08/2019 to 28/08/2019) aboard RRS James Clark Ross. A motion-compensated Bongo net fitted with 200 um mesh was deployed at all locations to a maximum depth of 200 m or to within 10 m of the seabed.In the Arctic and sub-Arctic sectors adjacent to the Atlantic, three species of Calanus co-occur. However, their respective core distributions align with different water masses, with Calanus hyperboreus being a high-Arctic oceanic species, C. glacialis being associated with Arctic shelf waters, and C. finmarchicus dominating inflowing Atlantic Water.The proportions of these three species in each deployment was established through molecular analysis of the paired ethanol preserved sample. Subsamples of the ethanol sample were analysed using a 16S ribosomal RNA gene barcode (16SAR, 16SB2R primers) following an adapted protocol. Amplified DNA was sequenced using llumina high-throughput sequencing (HTS) platform. Resultant sequences processed through the Qiime pipeline, clustered into Operational Taxonomic Units at 97% homology and taxonomy was assigned using BLASTn (NCBI). Funded by UKRI Natural Environment Research Council (NERC; NE/P006213/1, NE/P006353/1, NE/P006302/1, NE/ P005985/1 amongst others).

This dataset contains quality-controlled georeferenced occurrence records of three Arctic Calanus species (Calanus finmarchicus, C. glacialis and C. hyperboreus), downloaded from the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) databases. Records span about 150 years of sampling (1870-2017), are located between 30 and 90 degrees north, and are distributed between the surface and 5000m deep. Physical (bathymetry) and environmental (temperature and sea-ice concentration) parameters are matched to each occurrence record. An html file provides the annotated source code for the data processing, analyses and figures produced for the publication: Freer JJ and Tarling GA (2023) Assessing key influences on the distribution and life-history of Arctic and boreal Calanus: Are online databases up to the challenge? Front. Mar. Sci. 10:908112. This work was funded by DIAPOD (NE/P006213/1) and CHASE (NE/R012687/1) projects as part of the Changing Arctic Ocean Programme, with the former funded by the UKRI Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the latter, jointly by NERC and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Further support was provided by BIOPOLE National Capability Multicentre Round 2 funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NE/W004933/1).

Datasets from a deep sediment trap (3700m) mooring deployed in the Southern Ocean, north-west of South Georgia in May 2013 during the marine cruise JR287 and recovered in December 2013 by the marine cruise JR291.

Datasets from a deep sediment trap (3200m) mooring deployed in the Southern Ocean, south-west of South Georgia in December 2013 during the marine cruise JR291 and recovered in November 2014 by the marine cruise JR304.

Datasets from a deep sediment trap (3700m) mooring deployed in the Southern Ocean, north-west of South Georgia in February 2008 during the marine cruise JR177 and recovered in November 2008 by the marine cruise JR187

Datasets from a deep sediment trap (3700m) mooring deployed in the Southern Ocean, north-west of South Georgia in November 2006 during the marine cruise JR161 and recovered in January 2008 by the marine cruise JR177.

Datasets from a deep sediment trap (3700m) mooring deployed in the Southern Ocean, north-west of South Georgia in December 2009 during the marine cruise JR228 and recovered in November 2011 by the marine cruise JR260a.

Datasets from a deep sediment trap (3700m) mooring deployed in the Southern Ocean, north-west of South Georgia in April 2009 during the marine cruise JR200 and recovered in December 2009 by the marine cruise JR228.

Datasets from a deep sediment trap (3700m) mooring deployed in the Southern Ocean, north-west of South Georgia in December 2015 during the marine cruise JR15002 and recovered in December 2016 by the marine cruise JR16003

Datasets from a deep sediment trap (3700m) mooring deployed in the Southern Ocean, north-west of South Georgia in December 2011 during the marine cruise JR260b and recovered in November 2012 by the marine cruise JR280.