The BioSWOT-Med campaign (Doglioli et al., 2023) was conducted aboard R/V L’Atalante from April 20 to May 15, 2023 in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea, in the region of the North Balearic Front (NBF) to study interactions between fine-scale oceanic circulation and biogeochemical processes. 

Three water masses were sampled across the NBF, northern ('A'), southern ('B'), and frontal ('F'). Each Lagrangian station consisted of a 24-hour sampling period following the displacement of a water parcel (Doglioli et al., 2024). Vertical profiles down to 500 m were collected every 6 hours at 06:00 ('T1'), 12:00 ('T2'), 18:00 ('T3'), and 00:00 ('T4') UTC, for a total of 28 Lagrangian stations: first between April~24-28 (A1, F1, B1), and again between May~4-7 (B2, F2, A2), with a final station in southern waters (B3) on May~12-13. B2 and B3 stations were located inside an anticyclonic eddy.

Hydrological profiles were obtained using a Sea-Bird CTD, with data averaged to a 1~m vertical resolution, they include potential temperature (°C), practical salinity, fluorescence-derived chlorophyll-a (µg/L) and oxygen (µmol/kg). 

Samples for nitrate + nitrite and phosphate (µM) were collected from Niskin bottles and analyzed onboard within 2-12~hours using a segmented flow analyzer (AAIII HR Seal Analytical) following (Aminot et al., 2007). Quantification limits (QL) were 0.05 µM for nitrate and 0.02 µM for phosphate. Phosphate concentrations at a nanomolar level analyses were performed in the laboratory using a high-sensitivity method combining a 1 m Liquid Waveguide Capillary Cell (LWCC) and an auto-analyzer (Zhang et al. 2002), achieving a detection limit of 0.002µM. 

A BGC-Argo float (WMO: 1902605 - Provor CTS4 SUNA) equipped with a CTD and SUNA nitrate sensor was deployed near station B2 and sampled the anticyclonic eddy. To better resolve the photic and nutricline layers, the standard sampling cycle was modified to a 6-hour frequency, reaching depths of 300-400~m. The BGC-Argo float nitrate dataset spans May~2-16 and includes 55~profiles, with a 0.5 µM limit of quantification. It passed through a nitrate calibration procedure against 8 ship-made  profiles at B2 and B3.

Data export in NetCDF format

- Dataset at the 7 Lagrangian stations (28 vertical profiles for each variable, 4 at each station): 

‘BioSWOT-Med_LS_Date_Time.nc’ (with day, time, longitude and latitude); 

‘BioSWOT-Med_LS_Nutrients.nc’ (with nitrate, phosphate and phosphate at nanomolar level concentrations and depths); 

'BioSWOT-Med_LS_CTD.nc' (with temperature in situ, practical salinity, chlorophyll-a and oxygen concentrations, photosynthetically active radiations and depth).

- Dataset of the BGC-Argo float including 55 vertical profiles recorded between May 2 and 16: 

'BioSWOT-Med_BGC-Argo' (with day and time, longitude, latitude; nitrate concentrations with associated depth; temperature in situ and practical salinity associated depth; chlorophyll-a concentrations with associated predepthssure; and oxygen concentrations with associated depth).

Contact list 

Aude Joël (aude.joel@mio.osupytheas.fr ), Sandra Nunige (sandra.nunige@mio.osupytheas.fr, for ship-made nutrient dataset), Riccardo Martellucci (rmartellucci@ogs.it, for the BGC-Argo float dataset) and Andrea Doglioli (andrea.doglioli@mio.osupytheas.fr, for the BioSWOT-Med cruise).

References

Aminot, A., & Kérouel, R. 2007. Dosage automatique des nutriments dans les eaux marines: méthodes en flux continu. Méthodes d’analyse en milieu marin. Ifremer.

Doglioli, A.M., & Gregori, G. 2023. BioSWOT-Med cruise, RV L’Atalante. doi:10.17600/18002392.

Doglioli, A., Grégori, G., D’Ovidio, F., Bosse, P. E., A., Carlotti, F., Lescot, M.,. . . Waggonet, E. (2024). Bioswot med. biological applicati.ons of the satellite surface water and ocean topography in the mediterranean. ref. rapport de campagne. université aix-marseille. (doi:10.13155/100060)

Zhang, J.Z., & Chi, J. 2002. Automated analysis of nanomolar concentrations of phosphate in natural waters with liquid waveguide. Environ Sci Technol., 1;36(5), 1048–53. doi: 10.1021/es011094v.