A pan-Arctic pigment database for phytoplankton and sea–ice algae

Abstract. Climate change has dramatically altered the Arctic seas with significant decrease in sea ice extent and thickness and warming water temperature. The ecological impacts of such change have been described for many parts of the Arctic Ocean, but long-term records of biological indicators are still missing. Among those, photosynthetic and accessory pigments are one of the key tools that aid quantification of phytoplankton and sea–ice algae biomass and characterisation of community composition. To address this gap, we present the first pan-Arctic compilation of in situ algal pigment data obtained exclusively by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), containing 10 798 samples collected across 77 Arctic research cruises between 2000 and 2024. As a result of large-scale collaborative effort, this database covers both open water and sea–ice environments across coastal, shelf and open domains. The database (https://doi.org/10.11583/DTU.29445104, Heidemann et al., 2026) includes measures of up to 26 pigments, with 8 major marker/accessory pigments being considered in this study, namely Alloxanthin (Allo), 19'-Butanoyloxyfucoxanthin (But-fuco), Chlorophyll a (Chl a), Chlorophyll b (Chl b), Fucoxanthin (Fuco), 19'-Hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin (Hex-fuco), Peridinin (Peri), and Zeaxanthin (Zea). This publicly available database provides crucial data that can be used to assess phytoplankton dynamics, validating remote sensing observations and can serve as a resource for future Arctic ecological- and modelling studies.

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Publication Details

Journal
Earth system science data
Published
2026-07-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-5505-2026
Primary Topic
Marine and coastal ecosystems
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

A pan-Arctic pigment database for phytoplankton and sea–ice algae

Katarzyna Dragańska‐Deja, Alexander Hayward, Thomas Juul‐Pedersen, Glaucia M. Fragoso et al.
Earth system science data
Marine and coastal ecosystems
article

A pan-Arctic pigment database for phytoplankton and sea–ice algae

Katarzyna Dragańska‐Deja, Alexander Hayward, Thomas Juul‐Pedersen, Glaucia M. Fragoso, Jacob Høyer, Anabel von Jackowski, Giacomo R. DiTullio, Hongyan Xi, C. J. Mundy, Rafael Gonçalves‐Araujo, Joanna Stoń‐Egiert, Atreya Basu, Astrid Bracher, Ilka Peeken, Maria A. van Leeuwe, Atsushi Matsuoka, Piotr Kowalczuk, Giulia Castellani, Jacqueline Stefels, Philipp Assmy, Jiwoon Hwang, Youngju Lee, Alenya Merz, Antonia U. Thielecke, Else Ostermann, Matt Pinkerton, Morten Iversen, Asta Heidemann, Gaëlle Veyssiere, Amane Fujiwara, Eun Jin Yang
article en

Abstract

Abstract. Climate change has dramatically altered the Arctic seas with significant decrease in sea ice extent and thickness and warming water temperature. The ecological impacts of such change have been described for many parts of the Arctic Ocean, but long-term records of biological indicators are still missing. Among those, photosynthetic and accessory pigments are one of the key tools that aid quantification of phytoplankton and sea–ice algae biomass and characterisation of community composition. To address this gap, we present the first pan-Arctic compilation of in situ algal pigment data obtained exclusively by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), containing 10 798 samples collected across 77 Arctic research cruises between 2000 and 2024. As a result of large-scale collaborative effort, this database covers both open water and sea–ice environments across coastal, shelf and open domains. The database (https://doi.org/10.11583/DTU.29445104, Heidemann et al., 2026) includes measures of up to 26 pigments, with 8 major marker/accessory pigments being considered in this study, namely Alloxanthin (Allo), 19'-Butanoyloxyfucoxanthin (But-fuco), Chlorophyll a (Chl a), Chlorophyll b (Chl b), Fucoxanthin (Fuco), 19'-Hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin (Hex-fuco), Peridinin (Peri), and Zeaxanthin (Zea). This publicly available database provides crucial data that can be used to assess phytoplankton dynamics, validating remote sensing observations and can serve as a resource for future Arctic ecological- and modelling studies.

Earth system science dataVol. 18(7)
Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (DE), Statistics New Zealand (NZ), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JP), British Antarctic Survey (GB), University of New Hampshire (US), Stockholm University (SE), University of Groningen (NL), SINTEF (NO), University of Bremen (DE), Danish Meteorological Institute (DK), Korea Polar Research Institute (KR), Education New Zealand (NZ), Institute for Applied Systems Technology Bremen (DE), Grønlands Naturinstitut (GL), Instytut Oceanologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk (PL), University of Manitoba (CA), University of Charleston (US), Norwegian Polar Institute (NO), University of California, Berkeley (US), Technical University of Denmark (DK), Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Natur og Univers, Det Frie Forskningsråd, European Space Agency, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Narodowe Centrum Nauki, Norges Forskningsråd, Helmholtz Association, Korea Institute of Marine Science and Technology promotion, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, HORIZON EUROPE Excellent Science
Life below water
Openalex Percentile: Top 11%
Marine and coastal ecosystems
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