Data dossier: Amundsen-Bellingshausen, Weddell Sea and Bouvet-Maud domains

To assist marine protected area planning within the Amundsen-Bellingshausen, Weddell Sea and Bouvet-Maud domains, we have collated available data and described important environmental features for this domain. At the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) marine protected area workshop held in Brest, France in 2011, scientists adopted nine domains to plan for and assess progress towards a representative system of MPAs within the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica. The data summarised includes the environmental drivers that influence the distribution of Southern Ocean biota, biological data and previous classifications of the benthic and pelagic environments. Existing protected areas are also outlined. This research was completed for WWF’s Antarctic & Southern Ocean Initiative with funding provided by WWF Sweden’s Project Ocean.

Print version without appendices

Appendix 1: Circumpolar maps of geomorphic classes, geomorphic features, pelagic regions, depth, summer productivity, seabed temperatue, seaice cover and benthic ecoregions with the CCAMLR planning domains overlaid. Appendix 2: Minimum, maximum and mean values of seaice, seabed temperatue and persistent summer productivity across all domains.

Tables summarising the benthic classification across all domains and including tables adapted for the Del Cano- Crozet domain.

Tables summarising the pelagic classification across all domains and including tables adapted for the Amundsen-Bellingshausen, Weddell Sea and Bouvet-Maud domains