As part of the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research program, meteorological data are collected from various locations throughout the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. This data package contains monthly measurement summaries derived from 15-minute data generated by the Lake Hoare Meteorological Station (HOEM), located in Taylor Valley.

Mineral apatite is the ultimate source of the essential nutrient phosphorus to the soil ecosystem. In order to assess the biogeochemical weathering of apatite grains in the dry, basic soils of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, we collected nine surface soil samples from the Fryxell and Bonney Basins of Taylor Valley. After separating more than 50 individual soil apatite grains from each sample, we used scanning electron microscopy to quantify the morphology and surface etching of apatite grains to determine the degree of weathering.

Lake Bonney (McMurdo Dry Valleys, east Antarctica) represents a year-round refugia for life adapted to extreme conditions. Lake level has risen by more than 3 m since 2004, but impacts of rapid lake level rise on phytoplankton community structure is also poorly understood.

We used sediment incubations to quantify and compare nutrient uptake rates from biota living in sediment across glaciers in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Hughes Glacier is located towards the polar plateau on the western edge of the valley and flows from the southern Kukri Hills north into the valley. Canada and Commonwealth glaciers flow south into the valley from the Asgard range. Commonwealth glacier is located closest to the ocean on the east end of the valley. Canada glacier is located mid-valley, between Hughes and Commonwealth glaciers.

Surface water and hyporheic porewater samples were collected at high frequency during the 2017-18 (01/20/2018-01/21/2018) and 2018-19 (01/10/2019-01/12/2019) flow seasons, and opportunistically throughout the 2019-20 flow season (12/17/2019-1/25/2020) from the lower reaches of Von Guerard Stream, Taylor Valley, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Porewater samples were collected using plastic tubing inserted to depths of 15 or 30 cm and drawn out by syringe.

As part of the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research program, continuous stage (lake level) and ice surface ablation were collected at Lake Hoare, located in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. This package contains data measured at 1-minute intervals from Nov 2012 to Apr 2013, Nov 2013 to Feb 2014, and Nov 2014 to Oct 2016.

In this data package, we present diatom community assemblages from hyporheic sediments collected in January 2019 from six transects across Von Guerard Stream, Taylor Valley, Antarctica. These samples were collected to address questions about the retention and processing of particulate organic matter in the hyporheic zone of McMurdo Dry Valley streams. The six transects were located at pools, riffles, and meanders (three of each geomorphology type) along Von Guerard Stream and extended across the stream channel to the edges of the wetted zone, ranging from 6.6 to 13.6 m in length.

This data package provides analytic results for a laboratory assay on sediment samples collected in January 2019 from a transect (“P2”) across Von Guerard Stream (as described by Heindel et al. 2021), located in Taylor Valley, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. We used excess sample from that study in a laboratory desorption assay to assess conductivity dependent desorption of ammonium.

As part of the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, a systematic sampling program has been undertaken to monitor the glacial meltwater streams in that region. This package contains daily summaries derived from 15-minute measurements of water quality and quantity parameters measured with automatic recording devices on streams in this region. Specifically, this metadata record describes the daily hydrological summaries for the McMurdo Dry Valleys' Bohner Stream at the B5 streamgage, located in the Bonney Basin of Taylor Valley.

This data package contains chemical characteristics of water samples collected along four supraglacial streams on Canada Glacier, located in Taylor Valley, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Samples were collected during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 austral summers in order to characterize the spatial and temporal evolution of glacial meltwater as it travels over and off Canada Glacier. Samples from the 2015-16 austral summer have been fully analyzed and those data are included here.

This data package contains chemical characteristics of snow in the ablation zone of Canada Glacier, located in Taylor Valley, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica during the 2016-17 austral summer. Specifically, snow samples were collected from the ablation zones of Canada and Commonwealth Glaciers to characterize the chemistry of recent snowfall in the ablation zones of these glaciers.

As part of the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project, we investigated relationships between wind conditions and barotropic seiches within Lake Hoare, located in Taylor Valley, Antarctica, during the 2012-2013 austral summer. Temporal changes in the water column were measured using a rugged, handheld, CastAway CTD (conductivity-temperature-depth probe, manufactured by SonTek), deployed through the Lake Hoare Limno Hole (note, this is a separate instrument from the SeaBird CTD used as part of the MCM LTER core limnological monitoring program).

Climate warming in polar regions is associated with thawing of permafrost, resulting in significant changes in soil hydrology, biogeochemical cycling, and in the activity and composition of soil communities. While ongoing directional climate warming presses can elicit such responses over decadal time scales, their manifestation typically occurs as discrete thawing pulses. Indeed, in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, abrupt changes in community structure and biogeochemical cycling in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems following a summer warming event (Jan.

As part of the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project, five Active Layer Monitoring Stations (ALMSs) were established throughout Taylor Valley, Antarctica to support new research foci around the thermal-moisture dynamics of soils that may control habitat conditions and faunal responses to seasonal and annual freezing cycles in this ecosystem. Two ALMSs were established adjacent to streams (Green Creek, Von Guerard Stream), with sensors installed through the active layer from the thalweg out to the shoreline and dry soil beyond.

As part of the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project, five Active Layer Monitoring Stations (ALMSs) were established throughout Taylor Valley, Antarctica to support new research foci around the thermal-moisture dynamics of soils that may control habitat conditions and faunal responses to seasonal and annual freezing cycles in this ecosystem. Two ALMSs were established adjacent to streams (Green Creek, Von Guerard Stream), with sensors installed through the active layer from the thalweg out to the shoreline and dry soil beyond.

To examine temporal and spatial variability in snow chemistry during the 2000-2001 austral summer, snow samples were collected from the accumulation zones of Canada, Commonwealth, and Rhone Glaciers, located in Taylor Valley in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica. Snowpits were excavated to a depth of 2 meters at each location and samples were collected using a depth interval of 3 cm utilizing clean sampling techniques. Snow density was measured in the field at the time of sample collection. Samples were analyzed for major ions in the Crary Lab at McMurdo Station. 

An intensive field campaign was conducted during the 2018-2019 austral summer to assess spectral and biological characteristics of multiple microbial mat types, as well as mosses, across nine ephemeral glacial meltwater streams in the Fryxell Basin of Taylor Valley, located in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica.

This data package includes ecological parameters of biocrust and soil from samples collected in-situ within the Lake Fryxell Basin of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica during December of 2019. Parameters include biological (ash-free dry mass, pigment concentration, and counts of soil invertebrates), physical (water content, electrical conductivity, and pH), and chemical properties (inorganic nitrogen, inorganic phosphorous, total nitrogen, and total organic carbon) of the surface soil, biocrust, and underlying soil.

This data package consists of particle diameter and biovolume data for haptorian ciliates classified from discrete water column samples collected at various depths in Lake Fryxell and Lake Hoare in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica. Samples were collected and preserved between November 2007 and January 2020 in Lake Fryxell and between November 2007 and March 2008 in Lake Hoare.  Samples were collected and analyzed as part of the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) core limnological sampling.

This data package consists of video footage of a rare rain event that occurred in the Fryxell and Hoare Basins of Taylor Valley, located in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica, on December 21, 2018. Footage was captured at 0600 NZDT at Lake Fryxell camp by Laura Smarrito, a Leidos contract carpenter. Permission was granted to publish this footage for the purposes of obtaining a DOI to properly cite this occurence in a scientific manuscript under revision by JE Barrett et al.