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Rothera Time Series (RaTS) Data Set

Figure 1 - Rothera Time Series off western coast of the Antarctic Peninsula in the Marguerite Bay. Figure 2 - A close up of the sampling sites in Marguerite Bay, Antarctica. ©

17 October 2008

Through our partnership with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the Rothera Oceanographic and Biological Time Series (RaTS) data set is now accessible via our online request facility.

Currently, over ten years of CTD data are presented. In a few months, moored current meter data will also be made available. To access these data, you will need to

• Register as a BODC web user — this is an important but quick and easy process.
• Log in to our online request facility and use the 'Project' option on the search form to select the RaTS data.

More about RaTS

The RaTS programme is funded by NERC. It involves the long-term monitoring of a nearshore marine environment in the Antarctic. Its aims are to

• aid interpretation of the local ecology
• test a series of hypotheses concerning interactions between surface and deep waters and the environmental forcing of the nearshore environment

Sampling began in January 1997, at a site (Site 1) approximately 4 km from the coast of the BAS station at Rothera. Weather and ice permitting, an upper open hydrographic cast and discrete water sample (at a depth of 15 m) are collected every fifth day during summer and every seventh day during winter.

If Site 1 is inaccessible then the secondary station, Site 2, is occupied; if neither are accessible then a water sample is collected near the wharf at Rothera (Site 3) but no hydrography cast is taken.

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