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This data set includes measurements of water samples collected at hydrographic stations from the R/V Sikuliaq during the Arctic Chief Scientist Training cruise June 6–12, 2023 sponsored by the University National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) Arctic Icebreaker Coordinating Committee and the National Science Foundation. SKQ202309T was utilized as a training expedition for early-career Arctic oceanographers, focusing on skills essential for leading research cruises. Training topics centered on logistics, how to request time on ships, how to coordinate personnel and equipment, how to plan for operations and survey tasks at sea, how to work with vessel crew and staff, and how to edit research plans based on field conditions. Participants collected various data sets opportunistically throughout the research training. The cruise transited from Seward to Nome and water samples were collected at six hydrographic stations for salinity (this data set). Specifically, this data set contains conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) measurements of salinity at discrete water depths and portasal measurements of water samples from the corresponding bottles. Bottle samples were collected in 200 milliliter (mL) borosilicate bottles which were rinsed at least three times before filling. The bottles were sealed with Nalgene screw caps and stored without freezing. 

These data were extracted from water samples collected from R/V Sikuliaq hydrographic stations during the 2023 University National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) and Arctic Icebreaker Coordinating Committee (AICC) sponsored Arctic Chief Scientist Cruise. The primary goal of this program is to provide hands on training for early career researchers to gain skills and confidence in organizing and leading polar scientific research expeditions. The 2023 expedition (SKQ202309T; June 6–12) followed a coastal Alaska cruise track through the Aleutian Islands and across the Bering Sea. This dataset was specifically collected to provide a survey of microbial community composition and metabolic activity for this cruise transect. At eight stations, seawater microbial community composition was measured broadly using amplicon gene sequencing (16S/18S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) gene and Synechcoccus internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region) and metagenomic sequencing (data available through the National Center for Biotechnology Information; NCBI BioProject ID PRJNA1240040). At three stations, oxygen utilization assays were additionally used to measure rates of net community production and community respiration (data provided here). 

Relative abundance of planktic foraminifera in plankton tows was determined to understand species distribution in Alaskan waters and through the Bering Strait. Dataset includes metadata (latitude, longitude, date, water depth, nominal tow depth) of vertical plankton tows from two cruises: SKQ202309T, a transit from Seward, Alaska (AK) to Nome, AK aboard the R/V Sikuliaq in June 2023 and HLY2403 in the Chukchi Sea aboard the United States Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Healy in October 2024. Relative species assemblage is reported for each planktic foraminifera species found in plankton tows due to the qualitative collection methods. 

This data set includes nutrient measurements of water samples collected at hydrographic stations from the Research Vessel (R/V) Sikuliaq during the Arctic Chief Scientist Training cruise June 6–12, 2023 sponsored by the University National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) Arctic Icebreaker Coordinating Committee and the National Science Foundation. SKQ202309T was utilized as a training expedition for early-career Arctic oceanographers, focusing on skills essential for leading research cruises. Training topics centered on logistics, how to request time on ships, how to coordinate personnel and equipment, how to plan for operations and survey tasks at sea, how to work with vessel crew and staff, and how to edit research plans based on field conditions. Participants collected various data sets opportunistically throughout the research training. The cruise transited from Seward to Nome and water samples were collected at six hydrographic stations for nutrients (this data set). Specifically, this data set contains nutrient (total dissolved phosphorus (TDP), total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), phosphate, and nitrate+nitrite) measurements at surface and above seabed water depths. Bottle samples were collected in high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles which were rinsed at least three times before filling. The bottles were frozen at -40 Celsius (C). 

This dataset contains geochemical and grain size measurements of seabed and suspended sediment samples collected from the Bering Shelf and Yukon prodelta in June 2023. These samples were collected during the 6-12 June 2023 Arctic Chief Scientist Training Cruise, which was a short cruise on the R/V Sikuliaq during its transit from Seward, Alaska to Nome, Alaska. The cruise was sponsored by the University National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) Arctic Icebreaker Coordinating Committee and the National Science Foundation. These data were generated as a pilot data set to understand the fate of terrestrial organic carbon in the Yukon River delta and adjacent Bering Sea. Seabed sediment was collected at three locations (MC04, MC06, and MC08) using a multicorer. One seabed sediment sample was collected using a van veen grab sampler. Suspended sediment samples were collected using a hand-deployed niskin bottle and transferred into a clean 10-liter cubitainer for transport and temporary storage. Suspended sediment was filtered on the ship within 24 hours of collection using a Geotech barrel filter with a 0.45 micron Polyethersulfone (PES) membrane filter. Multicores were extruded on deck and subsamples were transferred to sterile whirl-pak sample bags. All sediment samples were frozen and subsequently shipped back to the lab in coolers. Sediment samples were analyzed for grain size, bulk elemental composition via X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and organic carbon and nitrogen concentrations and isotopes via EA-IRMS (elemental analyzer-isotope ratio mass spectrometry). Grain size distributions were measured using a Malvern mastersizer laser diffraction particle size analyzer at the University of Colorado Boulder. Bulk elemental composition was measured on the Rigaku XRF in the Analytical Geochemistry Lab at the University of New Mexico. Total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), and carbon/nitrogen isotopes were measured at the Center for Stable Isotopes at the University of New Mexico. Prior to EA-IRMS analyses, sediment samples were acid-treated to remove inorganic carbon following the method of Galy et al., 2007. References Galy, V., Bouchez, J., & France‐Lanord, C. (2007). Determination of total organic carbon content and δ13C in carbonate‐rich detrital sediments. Geostandards and Geoanalytical research, 31(3), 199-207.