CTD data collected during the iMAR 2021/Eurofleets+ research cruise in Mid Atlantic Ridge (Azores EEZ)

This dataset was produced during the iMAR cruise “The Integrated assessment of the distribution of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) in the Azores region”, that took place aboard the Research Vessel Pelagia of the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research between May 18th and June 2nd 2021. The iMAR cruise aimed to evaluate the role of the MAR in shaping latitudinal and trans-Atlantic patterns in deep-sea biogeography, connectivity and assemblages of deep-sea megafauna. This expedition was funded by the SEA OCEANS program of Eurofleets+ and the H2020 European project iAtlantic, and was led by the University of the Azores (Portugal) in collaboration with the Hydrographic Institute and University of Porto (Portugal), the University of Aarhus (Denmark), the National Oceanography Center (United Kingdom), GEOMAR (Germany), the University Museum of Bergen (Norway), the PP Shirshov Institute of Oceanology (Russia), and the University of Vale do Itajaí (Brazil). Vertical CTD/Rosette profiles were conducted with the CTD Seabird SBE 32 at 19 stations to measure physical and chemical seawater properties that characterize the dominant water masses described for the North MAR region of the Azores (Table 1). The “.CNV” files of fully processed data contain data of twenty-two parameters interpolated at 1-meter bins, (Table 2), mainly in the North portion of the MAR in the Exclusive Economic Zone around the Azores.