These data contain concentrations in micrograms per litre (ug/L) of the
individual accessory pigments of phytoplankton measured by High Pressure
Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Pigment samples were taken primarily on Cefas
fisheries and SmartBuoy cruises in the North Sea and Celtic Seas, and sent to
DHI laboratory in Denmark for HPLC analysis. Data was then sent back to Cefas
and matched with metadata and quality controlled. Chlorophyll concentrations
from this dataset have a variety of uses: for assessment of concentrations for
purposes such as eutrophication assessments, validation of remote sensing
derived chlorophyll estimates, as a proxy for phytoplankton biomass, or to
calibrate fluorometers. Pigment concentrations can be applied like a
fingerprint to derive phytoplankton functional types and give information
about the phytoplankton community.
