Description: Water column raw data using the ship's own Kongsberg EM 122 multibeam echosounder was not continuously recorded during RV METEOR cruise M95. Data was recorded on 3 days between 2013-04-01 and 2013-04-10. This dataset contains a survey about 120 km west of the coast of the Bahamas. The data are archived at the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany (Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie, BSH) and provided to PANGAEA database for data curation and publication. No ancillary sound velocity profiles (SVP) files from the cruise are archived at the BSH and therefore published at the corresponding multibeam raw dataset https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.942459. This publication is conducted within the efforts of the German Marine Research Alliance in the core area "Data management and Digitalization" (Deutsche Allianz Meeresforschung, DAM).

Description: Multibeam bathymetry raw data using the ship's own Kongsberg EM 710 multibeam echosounder was mostly continuously recorded during RV METEOR cruise M95. Data was recorded on 19 days between 2013-04-01 and 2013-04-19. This dataset contains a survey about 120 km west of the coast of the Bahamas. The approximate average depth of the entire dataset is around 600m. The data are archived at the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany (Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie, BSH) and provided to PANGAEA database for data curation and publication. Ancillary sound velocity profiles (SVP) files from the cruise are not archived at the BSH, thus no SVP files are added to this dataset. However, data analysis of the multibeam raw data revealed that SVP has been changed several times during the survey. This publication is conducted within the efforts of the German Marine Research Alliance in the core area "Data management and Digitalization" (Deutsche Allianz Meeresforschung, DAM). Data are unprocessed and therefore contains incorrect depth measurements (artifacts) without further processing. Overall, it appears that the data quality is rather poor since the gridded hillshade data showed relatively many obstacles (artifacts). It appears, that the Kongsberg EM 122 multibeam echosounder was simultaneously running during data acquisition since the data coverage is nearly the same (https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.942459). However whether this was affecting the data quality is unknown. The data quality of corresponding dataset from the Kongsberg EM 122 multibeam echosounder is comparably a little bit better (having less artifacts). Data can be processed e.g. with the open source software package MB-System (Caress, D. W., and D. N. Chayes, MB-System: Mapping the Seafloor, http://www.mbari.org/products/research-software/mb-system/, 2022).

Description: ADCP measurements were carried out during the M74 cruise in the winter monsoon season. During the entire cruise the shipboard 38 kHz ADCP (Teledyne-RD Instruments) was used, set for 120 bins with a size of 6 m and a blank distance of 6 m using the broad bandwidth high precision mode.

Description: Multi-channel reflection seismic data (MCS) were obtained by means of a 144-channel digital streamer (Hydroscience Technologies Inc.) with an active length of 600 m and a hydrophone-group interval of 4.167 m. The streamer was depth controlled by four navigator birds (Geospace Technologies) and towed at a water depth of 2 to 2.5 m. As seismic source, an array consisting of a standard GI gun and a mini GI gun was used with a total volume of 150+45 in3. The airguns shot with a pressure of 180 to 200 bar every 12.5 m or 16.7 m at a survey speed of 5 to 5.5 kn. Data were sampled with a rate of 1 ms and a record length of 4 s and were stored SEG-Y format. The profiles are fully processed and time migrated by the use of the Halliburton-Landmark ProMAX 2D software package.

Description: Parasound profiles are acquired witth the hull mounted echosounder device P70 (Atlas Elektronik GmbH), witch uses the parametric effect in which a secondary low-frequency signal is generated from the emission of two high-frequency primary signals. The simultaneously emitted frequencies were 18 kHz and 22 kHz, which constructively interfere resulting in a narrow beam cone of 4°.

Description: Parasound profiles are acquired witth the hull mounted echosounder device P70 (Atlas Elektronik GmbH), witch uses the parametric effect in which a secondary low-frequency signal is generated from the emission of two high-frequency primary signals. The simultaneously emitted frequencies were 18 kHz and 22 kHz, which constructively interfere resulting in a narrow beam cone of 4°.

Description: Multi-channel reflection seismic data (MCS) were obtained by means of a 144-channel digital streamer (Hydroscience Technologies Inc.) with an active length of 600 m and a hydrophone-group interval of 4.167 m. The streamer was depth controlled by four navigator birds (Geospace Technologies) and towed at a water depth of 2 to 2.5 m. As seismic source, an array consisting of a standard GI gun and a mini GI gun was used with a total volume of 150+45 in3. The airguns shot with a pressure of 180 to 200 bar every 12.5 m or 16.7 m at a survey speed of 5 to 5.5 kn. Data were sampled with a rate of 1 ms and a record length of 4 s and were stored SEG-Y format. The profiles are fully processed and time migrated by the use of the Halliburton-Landmark ProMAX 2D software package.

Description: The shallow-water survey with the dive safari vessel was performed with a boomer-plate AA301 (Applied Acoustic) as acoustic source operated with a power of 300 J/shot, a 24-channel MicroEel analog streamer (Geometrics), and a global positioning system (Hemisphere, Canada). Shot intervals was 1.2 s and the applied recording length 0.2 s TWT. Profiling speed was 3 to 3.5 knots.

Description: As a natural sediment trap, marine sediments of the sheltered central part of the Maldives Inner Sea represent an exceptional archive for paleoenvironmental and climate changes of the equatorial Indian Ocean. To evaluate the complex interplay between high-latitude and monsoonal climate variability, related dust fluxes, and regional oceanographic responses, we focused on Fe/Al, Ti/Al and Si/Ca ratios as proxies for terrigenous sediment delivery, and total organic carbon (TOC) and Br XRF counts as proxies for marine productivity. Benthic foraminiferal fauna distributions, grain size, and stable d18O and d13C data were used for evaluating changes in the benthic ecosystem, as well as changes in the intermediate water circulation, bottom water current velocity and oxygenation. Our multi-proxy data record reveals an enhanced dust supply during the glacial intervals, causing elevated Fe/Al and Si/Ca ratios, an overall coarsening of the sediment and an increasing amount of agglutinated benthic foraminifera. The enhanced dust fluxes can be attributed to higher dust availability in the Asian desert and loess areas and its transport by intensified winter monsoon winds during glacial conditions. These combined effects of wind-induced mixing of surface waters and dust fertilisation during the cold phases resulted in an increased surface-water productivity and related organic carbon fluxes. Thus, the development of highly diverse benthic foraminiferal faunas with certain detritus and suspension feeders were fostered. The difference in the d13C signal between epifaunal and deep infaunal benthic foraminifera reveals intermediate water oxygen concentrations between approximately 40 and 100 µmol kg-1 during this time. The precessional fluctuation pattern of oxygen changes resembles that from the deep Arabian Sea, suggesting an expansion of the Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ) from the Arabian Sea into the tropical Indian Ocean with a probable regional signal of strengthened winter-monsoon-induced organic matter fluxes and oxygen consumption, and further controlled by the varying inflow intensity of the Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW). In addition, the bottom water oxygenation pattern of the Maldives Inner Sea reveals a long phase of reduced ventilation during the last glacial period. This process is likely linked to the combined effects of generally enhanced oxygen consumption rates during high-productivity phases, reduced AAIW production, and the restriction of upper bathyal environments of the Inner Sea during sea-level lowstands. Thus, our multi-proxy record reflects a close linkage between the Indian monsoon oscillation, intermediate water circulation, productivity and sea-level changes on orbital time-scale.

Description: The sedimentary architecture of polar gravel-beach ridges is presented and it is shown that ridge internal geometries reflect past wave-climate conditions. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data obtained along the coasts of Potter Peninsula (King George Island) show that beach ridges unconformably overlie the prograding strand plain. Development of individual ridges is seen to result from multiple storms in periods of increased storm-wave impact on the coast. Strand-plain progradation, by contrast, is the result of swash sedimentation at the beach-face under persistent calm conditions. The sedimentary architecture of beach ridges in sheltered parts of the coast is characterized by seaward-dipping prograding beds, being the result of swash deposition under stormy conditions, or aggrading beds formed by wave overtopping. By contrast, ridges exposed to high-energy waves are composed of seaward- as well as landward-dipping strata, bundled by numerous erosional unconformities. These erosional unconformities are the result of sediment starvation or partial reworking of ridge material during exceptional strong storms. The number of individual ridges which are preserved from a given time interval varies along the coast depending on the morphodynamic setting: sheltered coasts are characterized by numerous small ridges, whereas fewer but larger ridges develop on exposed beaches. The frequency of ridge building ranges from decades in the low-energy settings up to 1600 years under high-energy conditions. Beach ridges in the study area cluster at 9.5, 7.5, 5.5, and below 3.5 m above the present-day storm beach. Based on radiocarbon data, this is interpreted to reflect distinct periods of increased storminess and/or shortened annual sea-ice coverage in the area of the South Shetland Islands for the times around 4.3, c. 3.1, 1.9 ka cal BP, and after 0.65 ka cal BP. Ages further indicate that even ridges at higher elevations can be subject to later reactivation and reworking. A careful investigation of the stratigraphic architecture is therefore essential prior to sampling for dating purposes.