Viral abundance and productivity in the Southern Ocean - data collected from the BROKE-West voyage of the Aurora Australis, 2006

Depths included the bottom depth as well as 8 samples in the top 200M. 50ml samples were collected from the niskin bottles attached to the CTD. 20ml was filtered through a 0.02 microlitre filter to remove the viruses and larger organisms from the sample. 1ml of this virus free water was then pipetted into individual cryovials. A further 1ml was then taken from the original seawater sample and was then passed through a 0.2 microlitre filter, which retained all the bacteria and algae.

The 0.2 microlitre filter was then placed in the cryovial with the 1ml of virus free seawater. Samples were then fixed with glutaraldehyde (5 microlitre, 50% concentration) at hourly intervals for 4 hours. After fixation samples were placed in liquid nitrogen and later stored at -80 degrees C. All samples will be analysed using a flowcytometer.