Metadata Report for BODC Series Reference Number 2108268

• 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

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

GV Instruments IsoPrime isotope ratio mass spectrometer

A laboratory benchtop isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS) designed for isotope ratio measurements, which operates in dual inlet or continuous flow modes. It forms part of the IsoPrime system which has a range of sample preparation and purification modules that can be coupled with the IsoPrime IRMS. The modules can analyse a range of samples (solids, liquids or gases) and each prepares the sample to be introduced into the IRMS as purified gases. The resultant prepared gases such as H₂, CO₂, CO, N₂, SO₂ or N₂O are then ionised and analysed for their isotopic content by the IRMS.

The instrument was originally manufactured by GV instruments as part of the IsoPrime series, but this part of the business was sold to Isoprime Ltd (a group member of Elementar Analysensysteme GmbH) in 2008. This model is no longer in production.

Non-toxic (underway) sea water supply

A source of uncontaminated near-surface (commonly 3 to 7 m) seawater pumped continuously to shipboard laboratories on research vessels. There is typically a temperature sensor near the intake (known as the hull temperature) to provide measurements that are as close as possible to the ambient water temperature. The flow from the supply is typically directed through continuously logged sensors such as a thermosalinograph and a fluorometer. Water samples are often collected from the non-toxic supply. The system is also referred to as the underway supply.

Discrete particulate organic material collected from non-toxic supply collected on RRS James Cook cruise 32 (JC032) for nitrogen stable isotope analysis

Originator's Protocol for Data Acquisition and Analysis

Methods are identical to and as described in detail in Moore et al. (2009). Original and additional references include; Montoya,et al. (1996), Mills, et al. (2004) and Voss, et al. (2004).

The following methods have been taken from the cruise report. Particulate organic material (POM) was collected from the ships non-toxic underway supply for the measurement of the natural abundance ratio of 15N:14N. Replicate 4.5 litre water samples were collected on station and filtered onto pre-ashed Whatman GF/F filters under gentle vacuum (<200 mbar). Filters were then placed in plastic vials and dried for 24-48 hours at 50-60°C before being stored for transport back to The National Oceanography Centre Southampton. On return, samples were analysed using a GV Instruments IsoPrime Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer. δ15N (0/00) was calculated using; 1000 x (15N:14Nsample/15N:14Nstandard - 1), where the standard was N2 gas of particulate organic nitrogen (PON).

References Cited

Moore, C.M., Mills, M.M., Arrigo, K.R., Berman-Frank, I., Bopp, L., Boyd, P.W., Galbraith, E.D., Geider, R.J., Guieu, C., Jaccard, S. L., Jickells, T.D., La Roche, J., Lenton, T.M., Mahowald, N.M., Marañón, E., Marinov, I., Moore, J.K., Nakatsuka, T., Oschlies, A. Saito, M.A., Thingstad, T.F., Tsuda, A. and Ulloa, O., 2009. Processes and patterns of oceanic nutrient limitation. Nature Geoscience 2, 867 - 871.

Montoya, J. P., Voss, M., Kähler, P. and Capone, D.G., 1996. A simple, high-precision, high-sensitivity tracer assay for N2 fixation. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 62, 986-993.

Mills, M.M., Ridame, C., Davey, M., La Roche, J. and Geider, R.J., 2004. Iron and phosphorus co-limit nitrogen fixation in the eastern tropical North Atlantic. Nature 429, 292-294.

Voss, M., Croot, P., Lochte, K., Mills, M.M. and Peeken, I., 2004. Patterns of nitrogen fixation along 10°N in the tropical North Atlantic. Geophysical research letters 31, L23S09.

BODC Data Processing Procedures

All data were received in one Excel file and were loaded into the BODC database using established procedures. The following table shows how the variables were mapped to the appropriate BODC parameter codes:

Data Quality Report

None. BODC assessment.

Problem Report

None. BODC assessment.

Project Information

Oceans 2025 - The NERC Marine Centres' Strategic Research Programme 2007-2012

Who funds the programme?

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funds the Oceans 2025 programme, which was originally planned in the context of NERC's 2002-2007 strategy and later realigned to NERC's subsequent strategy (Next Generation Science for Planet Earth; NERC 2007).

Who is involved in the programme?

The Oceans 2025 programme was designed by and is to be implemented through seven leading UK marine centres. The marine centres work together in coordination and are also supported by cooperation and input from government bodies, universities and other partners. The seven marine centres are:

• National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS)
• Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML)
• Marine Biological Association (MBA)
• Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Marine Science (SAHFOS)
• Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (POL)
• Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS)
• Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU)

Oceans2025 provides funding to three national marine facilities, which provide services to the wider UK marine community, in addition to the Oceans 2025 community. These facilities are:

• British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC), hosted at POL
• Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL), hosted at POL
• Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa (CCAP), hosted at SAMS

The NERC-run Strategic Ocean Funding Initiative (SOFI) provides additional support to the programme by funding additional research projects and studentships that closely complement the Oceans 2025 programme, primarily through universities.

What is the programme about?

Oceans 2025 sets out to address some key challenges that face the UK as a result of a changing marine environment. The research funded through the programme sets out to increase understanding of the size, nature and impacts of these changes, with the aim to:

• improve knowledge of how the seas behave, not just now but in the future;
• help assess what that might mean for the Earth system and for society;
• assist in developing sustainable solutions for the management of marine resources for future generations;
• enhance the research capabilities and facilities available for UK marine science.

In order to address these aims there are nine science themes supported by the Oceans 2025 programme:

• Climate, circulation and sea level (Theme 1)
• Marine biogeochemical cycles (Theme 2)
• Shelf and coastal processes (Theme 3)
• Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (Theme 4)
• Continental margins and deep ocean (Theme 5)
• Sustainable marine resources (Theme 6)
• Technology development (Theme 8)
• Next generation ocean prediction (Theme 9)
• Integration of sustained observations in the marine environment (Theme 10)

In the original programme proposal there was a theme on health and human impacts (Theme 7). The elements of this Theme have subsequently been included in Themes 3 and 9.

When is the programme active?

The programme started in April 2007 with funding for 5 years.

Brief summary of the programme fieldwork/data

Programme fieldwork and data collection are to be achieved through:

• physical, biological and chemical parameters sampling throughout the North and South Atlantic during collaborative research cruises aboard NERC's research vessels RRS Discovery, RRS James Cook and RRS James Clark Ross;
• the Continuous Plankton Recorder being deployed by SAHFOS in the North Atlantic and North Pacific on 'ships of opportunity';
• physical parameters measured and relayed in near real-time by fixed moorings and ARGO floats;
• coastal and shelf sea observatory data (Liverpool Bay Coastal Observatory (LBCO) and Western Channel Observatory (WCO)) using the RV Prince Madog and RV Quest.

The data is to be fed into models for validation and future projections. Greater detail can be found in the Theme documents.

Data Activity or Cruise Information

Cruise

Complete Cruise Metadata Report is available here

Fixed Station Information

No Fixed Station Information held for the Series

BODC Quality Control Flags

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

SeaDataNet Quality Control Flags

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