Seamount ecology and dynamics: A multidisciplinary data set from repeated surveys at different seamounts in the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean (2003 - 2013).

Seamounts are amongst the most common physiographic open ocean systems, but remoteness and geographic complexity have limited the number of integrated and multidisciplinary seamount surveys in the past. As a consequence, important aspects of seamount ecology and dynamics remain poorly studied. Here we present a multi-parameter data set from individual and repeated seamount surveys conducted at different sites in the Northeast Atlantic and Eastern Mediterranean between 2003 and 2013. The main objective of these surveys was to establish a collection of ecosystem relevant descriptors and to develop a better understanding of seamount ecosystem composition and variability in different dynamical and bio-geographic environments. Measurements were conducted at four seamounts in the Northeast Atlantic (Ampère, Sedlo, Seine, Senghor) and two seamounts in the Eastern Mediterranean (Anaximenes, Eratosthenes). The data set comprises records from a total number of 11 cruises including physical oceanography (temperature, salinity, pressure, currents), biology (phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish, benthos) and biogeochemistry (sedimentary particle dynamics, carbon flux). The resulting multi-disciplinary data collection provides a unique opportunity for comparative studies of seamount ecosystem structure and dynamics between different physical, biological and biogeochemical regimes