Metadata Report for BODC Series Reference Number 1015776


Metadata Summary

Data Description

Data Category Currents -subsurface Eulerian
Instrument Type
NameCategories
Aanderaa RCM 9/11 Recording Current Meter  current meters; water temperature sensor
Instrument Mounting subsurface mooring
Originating Country United Kingdom
Originator Dr Stuart Cunningham
Originating Organization National Oceanography Centre, Southampton
Processing Status banked
Project(s) Rapid Climate Change Programme
RAPIDMOC
RAPID-WATCH
 

Data Identifiers

Originator's Identifier WB1/399
BODC Series Reference 1015776
 

Time Co-ordinates(UT)

Start Time (yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm) 2009-04-30 19:30
End Time (yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm) 2010-04-01 13:22
Nominal Cycle Interval 1800.0 seconds
 

Spatial Co-ordinates

Latitude 26.50217 N ( 26° 30.1' N )
Longitude 76.81733 W ( 76° 49.0' W )
Positional Uncertainty 0.05 to 0.1 n.miles
Minimum Sensor Depth 1224.0 m
Maximum Sensor Depth 1224.0 m
Minimum Sensor Height 166.0 m
Maximum Sensor Height 166.0 m
Sea Floor Depth 1390.0 m
Sensor Distribution Fixed common depth - All sensors are grouped effectively at the same depth which is effectively fixed for the duration of the series
Sensor Depth Datum Approximate - Depth is only approximate
Sea Floor Depth Datum Approximate - Depth is only approximate
 

Parameters

BODC CODE Rank Units Title
AADYAA01 1 Days Date (time from 00:00 01/01/1760 to 00:00 UT on day)
AAFDZZ01 1 Days Time (time between 00:00 UT and timestamp)
ACYCAA01 1 Dimensionless Sequence number
LCEWEL01 1 Centimetres per second Eastward current velocity (Eulerian) in the water body by in-situ current meter
LCNSEL01 1 Centimetres per second Northward current velocity (Eulerian) in the water body by in-situ current meter
PRSTPR01 1 Decibars Pressure (measured variable) exerted by the water body plus atmosphere by semi-fixed in-situ pressure sensor
TEMPPR01 1 Degrees Celsius Temperature of the water body
 

Definition of Rank

  • Rank 1 is a one-dimensional parameter
  • Rank 2 is a two-dimensional parameter
  • Rank 0 is a one-dimensional parameter describing the second dimension of a two-dimensional parameter (e.g. bin depths for moored ADCP data)

Problem Reports

No Problem Report Found in the Database


Data Access Policy

Public domain data

These data have no specific confidentiality restrictions for users. However, users must acknowledge data sources as it is not ethical to publish data without proper attribution. Any publication or other output resulting from usage of the data should include an acknowledgment.

The recommended acknowledgment is

"This study uses data from the data source/organisation/programme, provided by the British Oceanographic Data Centre and funded by the funding body."


Narrative Documents

Aanderaa Recording Current Meter Model 9/11

The RCM 9/11 is a family of single-point Doppler recording current meters with different casing options to allow working at depths of up to 300 (RCM 9 LW), 2000 (RCM 9 IW) or 6000 (RCM 11) metres. The recording unit is 51.3 cm or 59.5 cm high (RCM 9 and RCM 11, respectively) with a diameter of 12.8 cm.

The RCM is most commonly deployed in an in-line mooring configuration. As it operates under a tilt up to 35° from vertical, it has a variety of in-line mooring applications by use of surface buoy or sub surface buoy. The instrument is installed in a mooring frame that allows easy installation and removal of the instrument without disassembly of the mooring line. The instrument can also be used for direct reading of the various parameters. This is conveniently done due to its compact design, low drag force and easy handling. Data can be stored internally and read after retrieval or be read in real time on deck by use of the profiling cable.

Meter comprises:

A built-in quartz clock allows the time of the first measurement to be recorded in the DSU. The measuring system is made up of a self-balancing bridge with sequential measurement of 10 channels and solid state memory. Channel 1 is a fixed reference reading for control purposes and data identification. Channels 2 and 3 represent measurement of current speed and direction. The direction is found by the use of measurements along two orthogonal axis and linking them to true north by use of an internal compass reading. The instrument can operate continuously or in eight intervals from 1 to 120 minutes. At 60-minute recording interval the operating time is more than two years. The current speed and direction are averaged over the measuring interval. Channels 4, 5 and 6 represent temperature, conductivity and pressure respectively.

Further information can be found in the manufacturer's instrument specification.

RAPIDMOC/MOCHA Current Meter data processing document

This document outlines the procedures undertaken to process and quality assure current meter data collected under the RAPIDMOC and MOCHA projects.

Originator's processing

The raw data are downloaded from the instrument and converted to ASCII format.

Once in ASCII format the data are corrected for the following -

A 40 hour low pass filter is also applied to the data.

Calculating and applying calibrations

Manufacturers calibrations are applied.

Quality Control

Data were visually inspected for out-lying data and instrument electrical spikes removed.

BODC processing

Data are received after quality checks have been made and calibrations have been applied. The data files are submitted in ASCII format as one file per instrument.

Once the submitted data files are safely archived, the data undergo reformatting and banking procedures:

Parameter mapping

The following describes the parameters contained in the originator's files and their mapping to BODC parameter codes:

Identifier Unit Definition BODC parameter code Units Unit conversion Comments
YY year Year AADYAA01 days - Combined with MM and DD to form a date and transferred
MM month Month AADYAA01 days - Combined with MM and DD to form a date and transferred
DD day Day AADYAA01 days - Combined with MM and DD to form a date and transferred
HH hour Decimal hours AAFDZZ01 days /24 Transferred
T °C Temperature TEMPPR01 °C - Transferred
P dbar Pressure PRSTPR01 dbar - Transferred
U cm/s Eastward velocity LCEWEL01 cm/s - Transferred
V cm/s Northward velocity LCNSEL01 cm/s - Transferred

Project Information

Rapid Climate Change (RAPID) Programme

Rapid Climate Change (RAPID) is a £20 million, six-year (2001-2007) programme of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). The programme aims to improve our ability to quantify the probability and magnitude of future rapid change in climate, with a main (but not exclusive) focus on the role of the Atlantic Ocean's Thermohaline Circulation.

Scientific Objectives

Projects

Overall 38 projects have been funded by the RAPID programme. These include 4 which focus on Monitoring the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC), and 5 international projects jointly funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, the Research Council of Norway and NERC.

The RAPID effort to design a system to continuously monitor the strength and structure of the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation is being matched by comparative funding from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) for collaborative projects reviewed jointly with the NERC proposals. Three projects were funded by NSF.

A proportion of RAPID funding as been made available for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) as part of NERC's Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI). The SBRI aims to stimulate innovation in the economy by encouraging more high-tech small firms to start up or to develop new research capacities. As a result 4 projects have been funded.


Monitoring the Meridional Overturning Circulation at 26.5N (RAPIDMOC)

Scientific Rationale

There is a northward transport of heat throughout the Atlantic, reaching a maximum of 1.3PW (25% of the global heat flux) around 24.5°N. The heat transport is a balance of the northward flux of a warm Gulf Stream, and a southward flux of cooler thermocline and cold North Atlantic Deep Water that is known as the meridional overturning circulation (MOC). As a consequence of the MOC northwest Europe enjoys a mild climate for its latitude: however abrupt rearrangement of the Atlantic Circulation has been shown in climate models and in palaeoclimate records to be responsible for a cooling of European climate of between 5-10°C. A principal objective of the RAPID programme is the development of a pre-operational prototype system that will continuously observe the strength and structure of the MOC. An initiative has been formed to fulfill this objective and consists of three interlinked projects:

The entire monitoring array system created by the three projects will be recovered and redeployed annually until 2008 under RAPID funding. From 2008 until 2014 the array will continue to be serviced annually under RAPID-WATCH funding.

The array will be focussed on three regions, the Eastern Boundary (EB), the Mid Atlantic Ridge (MAR) and the Western Boundary (WB). The geographical extent of these regions are as follows:

References

Baehr, J., Hirschi, J., Beismann, J.O. and Marotzke, J. (2004) Monitoring the meridional overturning circulation in the North Atlantic: A model-based array design study. Journal of Marine Research, Volume 62, No 3, pp 283-312.

Baringer, M.O'N. and Larsen, J.C. (2001) Sixteen years of Florida Current transport at 27N Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 28, No 16, pp3179-3182

Bryden, H.L., Johns, W.E. and Saunders, P.M. (2005) Deep Western Boundary Current East of Abaco: Mean structure and transport. Journal of Marine Research, Volume 63, No 1, pp 35-57.

Hirschi, J., Baehr, J., Marotzke J., Stark J., Cunningham S.A. and Beismann J.O. (2003) A monitoring design for the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 30, No 7, article number 1413 (DOI 10.1029/2002GL016776)


RAPID- Will the Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation Halt? (RAPID-WATCH)

RAPID-WATCH (2007-2014) is a continuation programme of the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Rapid Climate Change (RAPID) programme. It aims to deliver a robust and scientifically credible assessment of the risk to the climate of UK and Europe arising from a rapid change in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC). The programme will also assess the need for a long-term observing system that could detect major MOC changes, narrow uncertainty in projections of future change, and possibly be the start of an 'early warning' prediction system.

The effort to design a system to continuously monitor the strength and structure of the North Atlantic MOC is being matched by comparative funding from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) for the existing collaborations started during RAPID for the observational arrays.

Scientific Objectives

This work will be carried out in collaboration with the Hadley Centre in the UK and through international partnerships.

Mooring Arrays

The RAPID-WATCH arrays are the existing 26°N MOC observing system array (RAPIDMOC) and the WAVE array that monitors the Deep Western Boundary Current. The data from these arrays will work towards meeting the first scientific objective.

The RAPIDMOC array consists of moorings focused in three geographical regions (sub-arrays) along 26.5° N: Eastern Boundary, Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Western Boundary. The Western Boundary sub-array has moorings managed by both the UK and US scientists. The other sub-arrays are solely led by the UK scientists. The lead PI is Dr Stuart Cunningham of the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK.

The WAVE array consists of one line of moorings off Halifax, Nova Scotia. The line will be serviced in partnership with the Bedford Institute of Oceanography (BIO), Halifax, Canada. The lead PI is Dr Chris Hughes of the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, Liverpool, UK.

All arrays will be serviced (recovered and redeployed) either on an annual or biennial basis using Research Vessels from the UK, US and Canada.

Modelling Projects

The second scientific objective will be addressed through numerical modelling studies designed to answer four questions:


Data Activity or Cruise Information

Data Activity

Start Date (yyyy-mm-dd) 2009-04-30
End Date (yyyy-mm-dd) 2010-04-02
Organization Undertaking ActivityNational Oceanography Centre, Southampton
Country of OrganizationUnited Kingdom
Originator's Data Activity IdentifierWB1#6
Platform Categorysubsurface mooring

RAPID Moored Instrument Rig WB1#6

This rig was deployed as part of the Western Boundary (WB) array of the RAPIDMOC project.

Deployment cruise RV Ronald H. Brown cruise RB0901
Recovery cruise RV Oceanus cruise OC459-1

The rig was anchored by a 1800 kg chain and was kept erect by a large sub-surface float supplemented by groups of smaller buoyancy all attached on swivels.

Instruments deployed on the rig

Depth Instrument
50 m Sea-Bird SBE37 SMP MicroCAT (#3206)
100 m Aanderaa RCM11 current meter (#381)
100 m Sea-Bird SBE37 SMP MicroCAT (#3219)
175 m Sea-Bird SBE37 SMP MicroCAT (#6837)
250 m Sea-Bird SBE37 SMP MicroCAT (#6838)
325 m Sea-Bird SBE37 SMP MicroCAT (#6839)
400 m Aanderaa RCM11 current meter (#383)
400 m Sea-Bird SBE37 SMP MicroCAT (#6840)
500 m Sea-Bird SBE37 SMP MicroCAT (#6841)
600 m Sea-Bird SBE37 SMP MicroCAT (#3209)
700 m Sea-Bird SBE37 SMP MicroCAT (#3215)
814 m Aanderaa RCM11 current meter (#395)
815 m Sea-Bird SBE37 SMP MicroCAT (#3216)
900 m Sea-Bird SBE37 SMP MicroCAT (#3221)
1000 m Sea-Bird SBE37 SMP MicroCAT (#3224)
1100 m Sea-Bird SBE37 SMP MicroCAT (#3225)
1224 m Aanderaa RCM11 current meter (#399)
1224 m Sea-Bird SBE37 SMP MicroCAT (#3234)
1350 m Sea-Bird SBE37 SMP MicroCAT (#3222)

Instrument Aanderaa RCM11 current meter #381 recorded no data whilst deployed. Instrument Aanderaa RCM11 current meter #383 data could not be downloaded from the instrument, hence no data are available.

Other Series linked to this Data Activity - 1091860 1091927 1091884 1091964 1091823 1091835 1091872 1015764 1091847 1091859 1091896 1091940 1091903 1091915 1091939 1091952

Cruise

Cruise Name RB0901
Departure Date 2009-04-15
Arrival Date 2009-05-05
Principal Scientist(s)Christopher S Meinen (NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory)
Ship NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown

Complete Cruise Metadata Report is available here


Fixed Station Information

Fixed Station Information

Station NameWestern Boundary Array
CategoryOffshore area
Latitude26° 37.50' N
Longitude73° 37.50' W
Water depth below MSL

RAPIDMOC Western Boundary (WB) Array

The Western Boundary Array defines a box in which moorings were deployed at the western side of the North Atlantic as part of the RAPIDMOC project and the collaborative project Meridional Overturning Circulation and Heatflux Array (MOCHA). The box region has latitudinal limits of 26° N to 27.5° N and longitudinal limits of 69.5° W to 77.5° W. Moorings have occupied this region since 2004 and are typically deployed for 6 to 18 months.

Moored data summary

Year Cruise ID Number of moorings Data types (number of instruments)
2004 D278 9 (6 RAPIDMOC, 3 MOCHA) ADCP (2), BPR (8), CM (29), MCTD (52), MMP (1)
2005 KN182_2 11 (6 RAPIDMOC, 5 MOCHA) ADCP (2), BPR (6), CM (27), MCTD (56)
2006 RB06-02, SJ14-06 11 (6 RAPIDMOC, 5 MOCHA) ADCP (1), BPR (3), CM (22), IES (7), MCTD (60)
2007 RB07-01 7 (7 RAPIDMOC) ADCP (1), BPR (4), CM (16), MCTD (47)
2008 SJ08-03 11 (8 RAPIDMOC, 3 MOCHA) ADCP (2), BPR (3), CM (40), MCTD (80)
2009 RB0901, D344, D345 16 (11 RAPIDMOC, 5 MOCHA) ADCP (2), BPR (5), CM (39), MCTD (91), DVS (1)
2010 OC459-1, RB1009 9 (8 RAPIDMOC, 1 MOCHA) ADCP (1), BPR (7), CM (23), MCTD (54)
2011 KN200-4 7 (7 RAPIDMOC, 6 MOCHA) ADCP (2), BPR (7), CM (43), MCTD (86), DVS (1), IES (1)

Cruise data summary

During the cruises to service the moored array, a variety of data types are collected. The table below is a summary of these data. The number of CTD profiles performed on these cruises within the box region defined above is also included. Trans-Atlantic hydrographic CTD sections have also been performed since 2004 and are included in the table.

Cruise ID Cruise description Data types Number of CTD profiles performed within the box region
D277 Initial array deployment DIS, MET, NAV, SADCP, SURF 1
D278 Initial array deployment DIS, MET, NAV, SADCP, SURF 16
D279 Hydrographic section CTD, DIS, LADCP, MET, NAV, SADCP, SURF 31
KN182_2 Array service CTD, DIS, MET, NAV, SADCP, SURF 64
RB0601 Array service CTD, DIS, LADCP, MET, NAV, SADCP, SURF 39
SJ14-06 Array service CTD, DIS, LADCP, MET, NAV, SADCP, SURF 33
RB07-01 Array service CTD, DIS, LADCP, MET, NAV, SADCP, SURF 36
SJ08-03 Array service CTD, DIS, LADCP, MET, NAV, SADCP, SURF 33
RB0901 Array service CTD, DIS, LADCP, MET, NAV, SADCP, SURF 35
D344 Array service CTD, DIS, MET, NAV, SADCP, SURF 3
D345 Array service CTD, DIS, LADCP, MET, NAV, SADCP, SURF 24
OC459-1 Array service CTD, DIS, MET, NAV, SADCP, SURF 9
OC459-2 Western Boundary Hydrographic section CTD, DIS, LADCP, MET, NAV, SADCP, SURF 27
D346 Hydrographic section CTD, DIS, LADCP, MET, NAV, SADCP, SURF 31
RB1009 WB4 service CTD, MET, SURF, NAV 2
KN200-4 Array service CTD, DIS, MET, NAV, SURF 34

Data type ID and description

Data type ID Description
ADCP Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler
BATH Bathymetry
BPR Bottom Pressure Recorder
CM Current Meter
CTD Conductivity-Temperature-Depth profiler
DIS Discrete water bottle samples
DVS Doppler Volume sampler
IES Inverted Echo Sounder
LADCP Lowered Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler
MET Meteorology
MCTD Moored Conductivity-Temperature-Depth sensor
MMP McLane Moored Profiler - profiling CTD and current meter
NAV Navigation
SADCP Shipborne Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler
SURF Sea surface data

Other Series linked to this Fixed Station for this cruise - 946093 973816 973828 973841 973853 973865 1015647 1015764 1015868 1015881 1015893 1015900 1015912 1015924 1015936 1016000 1016012 1016024 1016036 1091823 1091835 1091847 1091859 1091860 1091872 1091884 1091896 1091903 1091915 1091927 1091939 1091940 1091952 1091964 1091976 1091988 1092003 1092015 1092027 1092039 1092040 1092052 1092064 1092076 1092088 1092107 1092119 1092120 1092132 1092144 1092156 1092168 1092181 1092193 1092200 1092212 1092224 1092236 1092248 1092261 1092273 1092285 1092297 1092304 1092316 1092328 1092341 1092353 1097542 1097554 1097566 1097578 1097591 1097609

Other Cruises linked to this Fixed Station (with the number of series) - D278 (90) D344 (8) D345 (41) D346 (31) KN182_2 (85) KN200-4 (86) OC459-1 (56) RB0602 (42) RB0701 (58) RB0901 (74) RB1009 (24) RB1201 (55) SJ-08-03 Leg 1 (37) SJ-08-03 Leg 2 (75) SJ-14-06 (62)


BODC Quality Control Flags

The following single character qualifying flags may be associated with one or more individual parameters with a data cycle:

Flag Description
Blank Unqualified
< Below detection limit
> In excess of quoted value
A Taxonomic flag for affinis (aff.)
B Beginning of CTD Down/Up Cast
C Taxonomic flag for confer (cf.)
D Thermometric depth
E End of CTD Down/Up Cast
G Non-taxonomic biological characteristic uncertainty
H Extrapolated value
I Taxonomic flag for single species (sp.)
K Improbable value - unknown quality control source
L Improbable value - originator's quality control
M Improbable value - BODC quality control
N Null value
O Improbable value - user quality control
P Trace/calm
Q Indeterminate
R Replacement value
S Estimated value
T Interpolated value
U Uncalibrated
W Control value
X Excessive difference