Table of Contents

• Coverage
• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
• Data Files
• Parameters
• Instruments
• Deployments
• Project Information
• Funding

This dataset includes cell counts from hadopelagic seawater samples from the Mariana and Kermadec trenches from April, November, and December 2014.

NOTE: sample RG10 in this dataset is equivalent to RG09 in the event log, due to at-sea recording error. RG10-2 is equivalent to RG10 in the event log.

This data set is associated with PI Douglas Bartlett (NSF OCE-1536776) and R/V Thomas G. Thompson from Apr. 10 - May 20 to the Kermadec Trench adjacent to New Zealand and Schmidt Ocean Institute R/V Falkor cruise FK141109 from Nov. 9 - Dec. 9, 2014, and FK141215 from Dec. 15-21, 2014 to the Mariana Trench. During the cruises, sediment and water samples were collected. Additional details can be found at: https://schmidtocean.org/cruise/expanding-mariana-trench-perspectives/ and https://scripps.ucsd.edu/labs/dbartlett/contact/challenger-deep-cruise-2014/

For cell counts, seawater was fixed with 1% paraformaldehyde and stored at -80C. Samples were later thawed, stained with SYBR Green (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA), and cells enumerated using flow cytometry (Attune Acoustic Focusing Flow Cytometer, Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA).

BCO-DMO Processing:
- added conventional header with dataset name, PI name, version date
- modified parameter names to conform with BCO-DMO naming conventions
- reduced Latitude and Longitude precision to 4 decimal places
- reduced cell count precision to whole values
- added cruise_id, cruise_name, station, date and time deployed and recovered, and local/UTC flag - from ship deployment log datasets

Award Abstract from NSF:
The deepest portion of the ocean is present in ocean trenches, whose steep walls descend from approximately 4 miles down to depths that in some cases are close to 7 miles below the seawater surface. At these locations Earth's crust is recycled. Perhaps not surprisingly given their remoteness, deep ocean trenches are the least understood habitats in the ocean. The researchers participating in this project are working to characterize the microbes present in two of the deepest trenches present on Earth, both in the Pacific Ocean, the Kermadec Trench located north of New Zealand, and the Mariana Trench, located east and south of the island of Guam. Most of the Mariana Trench is located within the United States Mariana Trench Marine National Monument. Relatively little is known about the diversity and adaptations of the microorganisms in deep ocean trenches. An unknown fraction of the microbes present have descended from shallow waters above and are unlikely to participate in any nutrient cycles in the deep sea. Others are adapted to near freezing temperatures and up to pressures greater than 10e7 kilograms per square meter (16,000 pounds per square inch). These latter microbes perform important roles recycling organic matter. But who are they? This project is contributing to the training of diverse undergraduate and graduate students participating in research, additional undergraduate students learning about microbes inhabiting extreme environments in a web-based class, and additional graduate students and postdoctoral scientists participating in an advanced training course being offered in Antarctica.

Experiments being performed include direct counts of prokaryotes and viruses in seawater and sediments, analyses of the abundance and phylogenetic breadth of culturable heterotrophic bacteria at a range of pressures, measurements of bacterial community species diversity and richness both within and across seawater and sediment samples, as well as within and across the two trench systems, measurements of microbial activity as a function of pressure and the identification of high pressure-active cells. The data generated from these analyses are being integrated into the results of additional chemical, geological and biological measurements performed by others as a part of the National Science Foundation funded Hadal Ecosystems Studies Project. Two of the working hypotheses are that prokaryote numbers and diversity are generally positively correlated with surface productivity and proximity to the trench axis and that bacterial taxa exist which are endemic to specific trenches, present in multiple trenches and more widely distributed in deep-sea environments.