Metadata Report for BODC Series Reference Number 1336723

Metadata Summary
Problem Reports
Data Access Policy
Narrative Documents
Project Information
Data Activity or Cruise Information
Fixed Station Information
BODC Quality Flags
SeaDataNet Quality Flags

Metadata Summary

Data Description

Data Category

Water sample data

Instrument Type

Name	Categories
Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	discrete water samplers

Instrument Mounting

lowered unmanned submersible

Originating Country

United Kingdom

Originator

Mr Malcolm Woodward

Originating Organization

Plymouth Marine Laboratory

Processing Status

banked

Online delivery of data

Download available - Ocean Data View (ODV) format

Project(s)

Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry (SSB)

Data Identifiers

Originator's Identifier	DY008_UCCTD_NUTS_62:083
BODC Series Reference	1336723

Time Co-ordinates(UT)

Start Time (yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm)	2014-03-31 19:06
End Time (yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm)	-
Nominal Cycle Interval	-

Spatial Co-ordinates

Latitude	51.21370 N ( 51° 12.8' N )
Longitude	6.13725 W ( 6° 8.2' W )
Positional Uncertainty	0.05 to 0.1 n.miles
Minimum Sensor or Sampling Depth	99.9 m
Maximum Sensor or Sampling Depth	100.0 m
Minimum Sensor or Sampling Height	10.9 m
Maximum Sensor or Sampling Height	11.0 m
Sea Floor Depth	110.9 m
Sea Floor Depth Source	-
Sensor or Sampling Distribution	Unspecified -
Sensor or Sampling Depth Datum	Unspecified -
Sea Floor Depth Datum	Unspecified -

Parameters

BODC CODE	Rank	Units	Title
ADEPZZ01	1	Metres	Depth (spatial coordinate) relative to water surface in the water body
AMONAATX	1	Micromoles per litre	Concentration of ammonium {NH4+ CAS 14798-03-9} per unit volume of the water body [dissolved plus reactive particulate phase] by colorimetric autoanalysis
BOTTFLAG	1	Not applicable	Sampling process quality flag (BODC C22)
FIRSEQID	1	Dimensionless	Bottle firing sequence number
NTRIAATX	1	Micromoles per litre	Concentration of nitrite {NO2- CAS 14797-65-0} per unit volume of the water body [dissolved plus reactive particulate phase] by colorimetric autoanalysis
NTRZAATX	1	Micromoles per litre	Concentration of nitrate+nitrite {NO3+NO2} per unit volume of the water body [dissolved plus reactive particulate phase] by colorimetric autoanalysis
PHOSAATX	1	Micromoles per litre	Concentration of phosphate {PO43- CAS 14265-44-2} per unit volume of the water body [dissolved plus reactive particulate phase] by colorimetric autoanalysis
ROSPOSID	1	Dimensionless	Bottle rosette position identifier
SAMPRFNM	1	Dimensionless	Sample reference number
SLCAAATX	1	Micromoles per litre	Concentration of silicate {SiO44- CAS 17181-37-2} per unit volume of the water body [dissolved plus reactive particulate phase] by colorimetric autoanalysis

Definition of BOTTFLAG

BOTTFLAG	Definition
0	The sampling event occurred without any incident being reported to BODC.
1	The filter in an in-situ sampling pump physically ruptured during sample resulting in an unquantifiable loss of sampled material.
2	Analytical evidence (e.g. surface water salinity measured on a sample collected at depth) indicates that the water sample has been contaminated by water from depths other than the depths of sampling.
3	The feedback indicator on the deck unit reported that the bottle closure command had failed. General Oceanics deck units used on NERC vessels in the 80s and 90s were renowned for reporting misfires when the bottle had been closed. This flag is also suitable for when a trigger command is mistakenly sent to a bottle that has previously been fired.
4	During the sampling deployment the bottle was fired in an order other than incrementing rosette position. Indicative of the potential for errors in the assignment of bottle firing depth, especially with General Oceanics rosettes.
5	Water was reported to be escaping from the bottle as the rosette was being recovered.
6	The bottle seals were observed to be incorrectly seated and the bottle was only part full of water on recovery.
7	Either the bottle was found to contain no sample on recovery or there was no bottle fitted to the rosette position fired (but SBE35 record may exist).
8	There is reason to doubt the accuracy of the sampling depth associated with the sample.
9	The bottle air vent had not been closed prior to deployment giving rise to a risk of sample contamination through leakage.

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

Open Data supplied by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)

You must always use the following attribution statement to acknowledge the source of the information: "Contains data supplied by Natural Environment Research Council."

Narrative Documents

Niskin Bottle

The Niskin bottle is a device used by oceanographers to collect subsurface seawater samples. It is a plastic bottle with caps and rubber seals at each end and is deployed with the caps held open, allowing free-flushing of the bottle as it moves through the water column.

Standard Niskin

The standard version of the bottle includes a plastic-coated metal spring or elastic cord running through the interior of the bottle that joins the two caps, and the caps are held open against the spring by plastic lanyards. When the bottle reaches the desired depth the lanyards are released by a pressure-actuated switch, command signal or messenger weight and the caps are forced shut and sealed, trapping the seawater sample.

Lever Action Niskin

The Lever Action Niskin Bottle differs from the standard version, in that the caps are held open during deployment by externally mounted stainless steel springs rather than an internal spring or cord. Lever Action Niskins are recommended for applications where a completely clear sample chamber is critical or for use in deep cold water.

Clean Sampling

A modified version of the standard Niskin bottle has been developed for clean sampling. This is teflon-coated and uses a latex cord to close the caps rather than a metal spring. The clean version of the Levered Action Niskin bottle is also teflon-coated and uses epoxy covered springs in place of the stainless steel springs. These bottles are specifically designed to minimise metal contamination when sampling trace metals.

Deployment

Bottles may be deployed singly clamped to a wire or in groups of up to 48 on a rosette. Standard bottles and Lever Action bottles have a capacity between 1.7 and 30 L. Reversing thermometers may be attached to a spring-loaded disk that rotates through 180° on bottle closure.

Inorganic nutrient discrete samples from CTD bottles during RRS James Cook cruise DY008

Originator's Protocol for Data Acquisition and Analysis

Sampling strategy

Samples were collected from 13 CTD casts at up to eight depth levels. The water sample was transferred from the CTD to 60 ml HDPE Nalgene bottles (acid washed and cleaned) using Silicone tubing, with the sample bottle being washed three times before the final sample was taken. This sample was then immediately taken to the laboratory and analysed as soon as possible after the sample was collected. Gloves and other clean handling protocols were adopted following the GO-SHIP protocols. When immediate analysis was not possible samples were stored in the dark, in a fridge, and brought back to room temperature prior to analysis.

Sample Analysis

The inorganic nutrient samples were analysed using a 5 channel (nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, silicate and ammonium) Bran and Luebbe AAIII segmented flow, colorimetric, autoanalyser. The data were calibrated against home nutrient standards and then compared against Certified Nutrient Reference Materials, from KANSO Technos, Japan.

The analytical chemical methodologies used were according to Brewer and Riley (1965) for nitrate, Grasshoff (1976) for nitrite, Kirkwood (1989) for phosphate and silicate, and Mantoura and Woodward (1983) for ammonium. The detection limits were 0.01 µ mol l^-1 (nitrite), 0.02 µ mol l^-1 (nitrate+nitrite), 0.03 µ mol l^-1 (ammonium) and 0.02 µ mol l^-1 (phosphate). There was no limit for silicate.

References

Kirkwood D., 1989. Simultaneous determination of selected nutrients in seawater. ICES CM 1989/C:29.

Brewer and Riley, 1965. The automatic determination of nitrate in sea water. Deep Sea Research, 12, 765-72.

Grasshoff K., 1976.Methods of seawater analysis. Verlag Chemie, Weiheim and New York, 317pp.

Mantoura R.F.C and Woodward E.M.S, 1983.Optimization of the indophenol blue method for the automated determination of ammonia in estuarine waters. Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science, 17, 219-24.

BODC Data Processing Procedures

The data arrived at BODC in one Excel (.xlsx) file containing discrete samples collected from the DY008 CTD deployments. Data received were loaded into the BODC database using established BODC data banking procedures. Data were loaded into BODC's database without any changes. Originator's variables were mapped to appropriate BODC parameter codes as follows:

Originator's Parameter	Originator's Unit	Description	BODC Parameter Code	BODC Unit
Nitrite	µ mol	Concentration of nitrite {NO2} per unit volume of the water body [dissolved plus reactive particulate phase] by colorimetric autoanalysis	NTRIAATX	µ mol l^-1
Nitrate+Nit	µ mol	Concentration of nitrate+nitrite {NO3+NO2} per unit volume of the water body [dissolved plus reactive particulate phase] by colorimetric autoanalysis	NTRZAATX	µ mol l^-1
Ammonium	µ mol	Concentration of ammonium {NH4} per unit volume of the water body [dissolved plus reactive particulate phase] by colorimetric autoanalysis	AMONAATX	µ mol l^-1
Silicate	µ mol	Concentration of silicate {SiO4} per unit volume of the water body [dissolved plus reactive particulate phase] by colorimetric autoanalysis	SLCAAATX	µ mol l^-1
Phosphate	µ mol	Concentration of phosphate {PO4} per unit volume of the water body [dissolved plus reactive particulate phase] by colorimetric autoanalysis	PHOSAATX	µ mol l^-1

Data Quality Report

None. (BODC assessment)

Problem Report

None. (BODC assessment)

Project Information

Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry (SSB) Programme

Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry (SSB) is a £10.5 million, six-year (2011-2017) research programme, jointly funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The aim of the research is to reduce the uncertainty in our understanding of nutrient and carbon cycling within the shelf seas, and of their role in global biogeochemical cycles. SSB will also provide effective policy advice and make a significant contribution to the Living with Environmental Change programme.

Background

The Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry research programme directly relates to the delivery of the NERC Earth system science theme and aims to provide evidence that supports a number of marine policy areas and statutory requirements, such as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and Marine and Climate Acts.

The shelf seas are highly productive compared to the open ocean, a productivity that underpins more than 90 per cent of global fisheries. Their importance to society extends beyond food production to include issues of biodiversity, carbon cycling and storage, waste disposal, nutrient cycling, recreation and renewable energy resources.

The shelf seas have been estimated to be the most valuable biome on Earth, but they are under considerable stress, as a result of anthropogenic nutrient loading, overfishing, habitat disturbance, climate change and other impacts.

However, even within the relatively well-studied European shelf seas, fundamental biogeochemical processes are poorly understood. For example: the role of shelf seas in carbon storage; in the global cycles of key nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, silicon and iron); and in determining primary and secondary production, and thereby underpinning the future delivery of many other ecosystem services.

Improved knowledge of such factors is not only required by marine policymakers; it also has the potential to increase the quality and cost-effectiveness of management decisions at the local, national and international levels under conditions of climate change.

The Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry research programme will take a holistic approach to the cycling of nutrients and carbon and the controls on primary and secondary production in UK and European shelf seas, to increase understanding of these processes and their role in wider biogeochemical cycles. It will thereby significantly improve predictive marine biogeochemical and ecosystem models over a range of scales.

The scope of the programme includes exchanges with the open ocean (transport on and off the shelf to a depth of around 500m), together with cycling, storage and release processes on the shelf slope, and air-sea exchange of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide).

Further details are available on the SSB website.

Participants

15 different organisations are directly involved in research for SSB. These institutions are

Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas)
Meteorological Office
National Oceanography Centre (NOC)
Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML)
Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) / Scottish Marine Institute (SMI)
University of Aberdeen
University of Bangor
University of East Anglia (UEA)
University of Edinburgh
University of Essex
University of Liverpool
University of Oxford
Plymouth University
University of Portsmouth
University of Southampton

In addition, there are third party institutions carrying out sampling work for SSB, but who are not involved in the programme itself. These are:

The Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI)
Irish Marine Institute (MI)
Marine Science Scotland (MSS)

Research details

Overall, five Work Packages have been funded by the SSB programme. These are described in brief below:

Work Package 1: Carbon and Nutrient Dynamics and Fluxes over Shelf Systems (CaNDyFloSS).
This work package aims to perform a comprehensive study of the cycling of nutrients and carbon throughout the water column over the whole north-west European shelf. This will allow the fluxes of nutrients and carbon between the shelf and the deep ocean and atmosphere to be quantified, establishing the role of the north-west European continental shelf in the global carbon cycle.
Work Package 2: Biogeochemistry, macronutrient and carbon cycling in the benthic layer.
This work package aims are to map the sensitivity and status of seabed habitats, based on physical conditions, ecological community structure and the size and dynamics of the nitrogen and carbon pools found there. This information will be used, in conjunction with some laboratory-based work, to generate an understanding of the potential impacts on the benthic community as a result of changing environmental conditions, such as rising CO₂ levels.
Work Package 3: The supply of iron from shelf sediments to the ocean.
The research for this work package addresses the question of how currents, tides, weather and marine chemistry allow new iron to be transported away from the shallow shelf waters around the United Kingdom (UK), to the nearby open ocean. This will ultimately allow an improved understanding of how the transport of iron in shelf waters and shelf sediments influences phytoplankton growth in open oceans. This in turn improves the understanding of carbon dioxide uptake by phytoplankton.
Work Package 4: Integrative modelling for Shelf Seas Biogeochemistry.
The aim of this work package is the development of a new shelf seas biogeochemical model system, coupled to a state of the art physical model, that is capable of predicting regional impacts of environmental change of timescales from days to decades. It is envisaged that the combination of predictive tools and new knowledge developed in this work package will underpin development and implementation of marine policy and marine forecasting systems.
Work Package 5: Data synthesis and management of marine and coastal carbon (DSMMAC).
This work package is funded by Defra and is also known by the name 'Blue Carbon'. The aim is to provide a process-based, quantitative assessment of the role of UK coastal waters and shelf seas in carbon storage and release, using existing data and understanding, and also emerging results from SSB fieldwork, experiments and modelling. Particular emphasis will be given to processes that may be influenced by human activities, and hence the opportunity for management interventions to enhance carbon sequestration.

Fieldwork and data collection

The campaign consists of the core cruises in the table below, to the marine shelf (and shelf-edge) of the Celtic Sea on board the NERC research vessels RRS Discovery and RRS James Cook. These cruises will focus on the physics and biogeochemistry of the benthic and pelagic zones of the water column, primarily around four main sampling sites in this area.

Cruise identifier	Research ship	Cruise dates	Work packages
DY008	RRS Discovery	March 2014	WP 2 and WP 3
JC105	RRS James Cook	June 2014	WP 1, WP 2 and WP 3
DY026	RRS Discovery	August 2014	WP1, WP 2 and WP 3
DY018	RRS Discovery	November - December 2014	WP 1 and WP 3
DY021 (also known as DY008b)	RRS Discovery	March 2015	WP 2 and WP 3
DY029	RRS Discovery	April 2015	WP 1 and WP 3
DY030	RRS Discovery	May 2015	WP 2 and WP 3
DY033	RRS Discovery	July 2015	WP 1 and WP 3
DY034	RRS Discovery	August 2015	WP 2 and WP 3

Core cruises will be supplemented by partner cruises led by Cefas, MI, MSS, Bangor University and AFBI, spanning the shelf seas and shelf-edges around United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.

Activities will include coring, Conductivity Temperature and Depth (CTD) deployments, Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) surveys, moorings and wire-walker deployments, benthic lander observatories, autonomous gliders and submersible surveys, Marine Snow Catcher particulate matter analysis, plankton net hauls, in-situ sediment flume investigations and laboratory incubations with core and sea water samples.

Data Activity or Cruise Information

Data Activity

Start Date (yyyy-mm-dd)	2014-03-31
End Date (yyyy-mm-dd)	2014-03-31
Organization Undertaking Activity	National Oceanography Centre, Southampton
Country of Organization	United Kingdom
Originator's Data Activity Identifier	DY008_UCCTD_083
Platform Category	lowered unmanned submersible

BODC Sample Metadata Report for DY008_UCCTD_083

Sample reference number	Nominal collection volume(l)	Bottle rosette position	Bottle firing sequence number	Minimum pressure sampled (dbar)	Maximum pressure sampled (dbar)	Depth of sampling point (m)	Bottle type	Sample quality flag	Bottle reference

886415	10.00	1	1	101.20	102.20	99.90	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	1T
886418	10.00	2	2	101.00	102.00	99.70	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	2T
886421	10.00	3	3	100.80	101.80	99.50	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	3T
886424	10.00	4	4	100.20	101.20	98.90	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	4T
886427	10.00	5	5	100.20	101.20	98.90	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	5T
886430	10.00	6	6	100.90	101.90	99.60	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	6T
886433	10.00	7	7	100.70	101.70	99.40	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	7T
886436	10.00	8	8	100.80	101.80	99.50	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	8T
886439	10.00	9	9	100.90	101.90	99.60	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	9T
886442	10.00	10	10	100.50	101.50	99.20	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	10T
886445	10.00	11	11	100.70	101.70	99.40	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	11T
886448	10.00	12	12	100.60	101.60	99.30	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	12T
886451	10.00	13	13	101.30	102.30	100.00	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	13T
886454	10.00	14	14	100.40	101.40	99.10	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	14T
886457	10.00	15	15	101.10	102.10	99.80	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	15T
886460	10.00	16	16	100.30	101.30	99.00	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	16T
886463	10.00	17	17	100.50	101.50	99.20	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	17T
886466	10.00	18	18	100.50	101.50	99.20	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	18T
886469	10.00	19	19	100.10	101.10	98.80	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	19T
886472	10.00	20	20	100.60	101.60	99.30	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	20T
886475	10.00	21	21	100.50	101.50	99.20	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	21T
886478	10.00	22	22	99.80	100.80	98.50	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	22T
886481	10.00	23	23	101.10	102.10	99.80	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	23T
886484	10.00	24	24	100.90	101.90	99.60	Teflon-coated Niskin bottle	No problem reported	24T

Please note:the supplied parameters may not have been sampled from all the bottle firings described in the table above. Cross-match the Sample Reference Number above against the SAMPRFNM value in the data file to identify the relevant metadata.

Cruise

Cruise Name	DY008
Departure Date	2014-03-18
Arrival Date	2014-04-13
Principal Scientist(s)	Henry Ruhl (National Oceanography Centre, Southampton)
Ship	RRS Discovery

Complete Cruise Metadata Report is available here

Fixed Station Information

Station Name	Shelf Seas Biogeochemistry Fixed Station Benthic A
Category	Offshore area
Latitude	51° 12.48' N
Longitude	6° 5.93' W
Water depth below MSL	106.0 m

Shelf Seas Biogeochemistry Fixed Station Benthic A

This station is one of four benthic sites sampled on the Celtic Sea shelf as part of work package II of the Shelf Seas Biogeochemistry project. The station has a mean water depth 109 m at the following co-ordinates:

Box Corner	Latitude	Longitude
North-west corner	51.2173°	-6.1418°
South-east corner	51.1988°	-6.0559°

The position of this station relative to the other Shelf Seas Biogeochemistry sites can be seen from the figure below.

Sampling History

	DY008	DY026A	DY018
CTD casts	2	3	1
Box cores	61	4	5
SPI camera	5	-	-
Stand Alone Pump Systems (SAPS)	1	-	-
Benthic flume	1	-	-
Multi-core	2	-	-
Glider deployments	2	1	-
Zooplankton net hauls	-	10	5
Marine snow catcher	-	4	-
Drifting buoy	-	2	-

Related Fixed Station activities are detailed in Appendix 1

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

SeaDataNet Quality Control Flags