Metadata Report for BODC Series Reference Number 751683

Metadata Summary

Data Description
Data Category Bathythermograph -expendable
Instrument Type Bathythermograph (MBT/XBT)
Instrument Mounting research vessel
Originating Country United Kingdom
Originator Dr Garaint Tarling
Originating Organization British Antarctic Survey
Processing Status QC in progress
Project(s) DISCOVERY 2010
 

Data Identifiers

Originator's Identifier T5_00040
BODC Series Reference 751683
 

Time Co-ordinates(UT)
Start Time (yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm) 2008-02-06 05:21
End Time (yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm) -
Nominal Cycle Interval 0.7 metres
 

Spatial Co-ordinates

Latitude 51.62967 S ( 51° 37.8' S )
Longitude 36.09450 W ( 36° 5.7' W )
Positional Uncertainty 0.0 to 0.01 n.miles
Minimum Sensor Depth 2.7 m
Maximum Sensor Depth 1830.5 m
Minimum Sensor Height -
Maximum Sensor Height -
Sea Floor Depth -
Sensor Distribution Variable common depth - All sensors are grouped effectively at the same depth, but this depth varies significantly during the series
Sensor Depth Datum Instantaneous - Depth measured below water line or instantaneous water body surface
Sea Floor Depth Datum -
 

Parameters
BODC CODE Rank Units Title
ACYCAA01 1 Dimensionless Sequence number
DEPHCV01 1 Metres Depth below surface of the water body by computation from probe free-fall time using unspecified algorithm
SVELVP01 1 Metres per second Sound velocity in the water body by sound velocity profiler
TEMPET01 1 Degrees Celsius Temperature of the water body by expendable bathythermograph (XBT)
 

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

BODC Processing

The data arrived at BODC in 56 ASCII format files representing the casts taken during JR20071228. These were reformatted to the internal QXF format using BODC transfer funciton 388. The following table shows how the variables within the ASCII files were mapped to appropriate BODC parameter codes:

Originator's Variable Units Description BODC Parameter Code Units Comments
Depth m Depth of instrument DEPHCV01 m  
Sound Velocity ms-1 Velocity of sound through water column SVELVP01 ms-1  
Temperature °C Temperature of water TEMPET01 °C  

The reformatted data were visualised using the in-house EDSERPLO software. Suspect data were marked by adding an appropriate quality control flag, missing data by both setting the data to an appropriate value and setting the quality control flag.

Instrument Description

XBT Unit and Auxiliary Sensors

Probe Type T-5
Terminal Depth 1830 m
Depth Equation Standard
Depth Coeff. 1 0.0
Depth Coeff. 2 6.828
Depth Coeff. 3 -0.00182
Depth Coeff. 4 0.0
Pressure Pt Correction 100.0%

Project Information

DISCOVERY 2010

DISCOVERY 2010 will investigate and describe the response of an ocean ecosystem to climate variability, climate change and commercial exploitation. The programme builds on past studies by BAS on the detailed nature of the South Georgia marine ecosystem and its links with the large-scale physical and biological behaviour of the Southern Ocean.

The aim is to identify, quantify and model key interactions and processes on scales that range from microscopic life forms to higher predators (penguins, albatrosses, seals and whales), and from the local to the circumpolar.

Objectives

Assess the links between the status of local marine food webs and variability and change in the Southern Ocean. Develop a linked set of ecosystem models applying relevant marine physics and biology over scales from the local to that of the entire Southern Ocean.

Relevance to Global Science

Ocean ecosystems play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity, in depositing carbon into the deep ocean, and as a source of protein for humans. However, fishing and climate change are having significant and often detrimental effects. To predict the future state of ocean ecosystems we must develop computer models capable of simulating biological and physical processes on a range of scales from the local to an entire ocean. Developing such predictive models is crucial to the sustainable management of world fisheries and requires integrated analyses of the way whole ecosystems work. DISCOVERY 2010 aims to take this work forward and at the same time help manage the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands maritime zone. We will do this through providing information on the state of the ecosystem to the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), the international body that manages sustainable fishing in the Southern Ocean.

Delivering the Results

DISCOVERY 2010 will undertake an integrated programme of shipboard and land-based field studies of the marine food web, combined with modelling. We will pay particular attention to critical phases in the life cycles of key species, and to examining interactive effects in food webs. Interacting biological and physical processes will be modelled across a range of spatial scales to significantly improve our representation of the ocean ecosystem, upon which sustainable management and the prediction of future climate change can be based. DISCOVERY 2010 will link to BIOFLAME, ACES, and COMPLEXITY, two international programmes, and to a collaborative programme with the University of East Anglia on the role of the Southern Ocean in the global carbon cycle.

Component Projects

Data Activity or Cruise Information

Cruise

Cruise Name JR20071227 ( JR177, JR205, JR207)
Departure Date 2007-12-31
Arrival Date 2008-02-16
Principal Scientist(s)Geraint Tarling (British Antarctic Survey)
Ship RRS James Clark Ross

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:

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