The Australian Chlorophyll a Database (1965 - 2017)

Chlorophyll a is the most commonly used indicator of phytoplankton biomass and is a proxy for primary productivity in the marine environment. It is relatively simple and cost effective to measure when compared to phytoplankton abundance and is thus routinely included in many surveys. Here we collate 173,333 records of chlorophyll a collected since 1965 from Australian waters gathered from researchers on regular coastal monitoring surveys to long ocean voyages. This dataset concentrates on samples analysed using spectrophotometry, fluorometry and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Here we collate all available chlorophyll a data from Australian waters, gathered from researchers, students, government bodies, state agencies, councils and databases, along with the associated metadata. The Australian Chlorophyll a Database is available through the Australian Ocean Data Network portal (AODN: https://portal.aodn.org.au/ ), the main repository for marine data in Australia. The Australian Chlorophyll a Database will be maintained and updated through the CSIRO data centre, with periodic updates sent to the AODN. A snapshot of the Australian Chlorophyll a Database at the time of this publication has been assigned a DOI and will be maintained in perpetuity by the AODN. These data can be used in isolation as an index of phytoplankton biomass or in combination with other data to provide insight into water quality, ecosystem state, and / or the relationships with other trophic levels such as zooplankton or fish.

This metadata record was based on the following CSIRO metadata record: https://www.marlin.csiro.au/geonetwork/srv/en/search?uuid=4c72fe3b-bddf-44da-a809-1791033a6ac5.