CMYK RGB History of Geo- and Space Open Access Open Sciences Advances in Science & Research Open Access Proceedings Drinking Water Drinking Water Engineering and Science Engineering and Science Open Access Access Open Discussions Discussions Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 4, 167–186, 2012 Earth System Earth System www.earth-syst-sci-data.net/4/167/2012/ Science Science doi:10.5194/essd-4-167-2012 © Author(s) 2012. CC Attribution 3.0 License. Access Open Open Access Open Data Data Discussions Social Social Open Access Open Geography Open Access Open Geography The global distribution of pteropods and their contribution to carbonate and carbon biomass in the modern ocean N. Bednarsekˇ 1, J. Mozinaˇ 2, M. Vogt3, C. O’Brien3, and G. A. Tarling4 1NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115, USA 2University of Nova Gorica, Laboratory for Environmental Research, Vipavska 13, Roznaˇ Dolina, 5000 Nova Gorica, Slovenia 3Institute for Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zurich,¨ Universitaetstrasse 16, 8092 Zurich,¨ Switzerland 4British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK Correspondence to: N. Bednarsekˇ (
[email protected]) Received: 20 March 2012 – Published in Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss.: 10 May 2012 Revised: 8 October 2012 – Accepted: 19 October 2012 – Published: 10 December 2012 Abstract. Pteropods are a group of holoplanktonic gastropods for which global biomass distribution patterns remain poorly described. The aim of this study was to collect and synthesise existing pteropod (Gymnosomata, Thecosomata and Pseudothecosomata) abundance and biomass data, in order to evaluate the global distribu- tion of pteropod carbon biomass, with a particular emphasis on temporal and spatial patterns.