Metadata Report for BODC Series Reference Number 838307


Metadata Summary

Data Description

Data Category Hydrography time series at depth
Instrument Type
NameCategories
Sea-Bird SBE 16Plus SEACAT C-T Recorder  water temperature sensor; salinity sensor
Seapoint Turbidity Meter  optical backscatter sensors
Instrument Mounting fixed benthic node
Originating Country United Kingdom
Originator Mr John Howarth
Originating Organization Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (now National Oceanography Centre, Liverpool)
Processing Status banked
Project(s) Oceans 2025
Oceans 2025 Theme 10
Oceans 2025 Theme 10 SO11
 

Data Identifiers

Originator's Identifier MX05310.1038
BODC Series Reference 838307
 

Time Co-ordinates(UT)

Start Time (yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm) 2008-05-15 14:50
End Time (yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm) 2008-06-25 18:10
Nominal Cycle Interval 600.0 seconds
 

Spatial Co-ordinates

Latitude 53.44983 N ( 53° 27.0' N )
Longitude 3.64133 W ( 3° 38.5' W )
Positional Uncertainty 0.01 to 0.05 n.miles
Minimum Sensor Depth 19.6 m
Maximum Sensor Depth 19.6 m
Minimum Sensor Height 0.5 m
Maximum Sensor Height 0.5 m
Sea Floor Depth 20.1 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 Instantaneous - Depth measured below water line or instantaneous water body surface
Sea Floor Depth Datum Instantaneous - Depth measured below water line or instantaneous water body surface
 

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
CNDCPR01 1 Siemens per metre Electrical conductivity of the water body by in-situ conductivity cell
PREXPS01 1 Decibars Pressure (measured variable) exerted by the water body by fixed in-situ pressure sensor and corrected to read zero at sea level
PSALPR01 1 Dimensionless Practical salinity of the water body by conductivity cell and computation using UNESCO 1983 algorithm
TEMPPR01 1 Degrees Celsius Temperature of the water body
TURBSP01 1 Nephelometric Turbidity Units Turbidity of the water body by SeaPoint turbidity meter and laboratory calibration against formazin
 

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

Sea-Bird SBE 16plus SEACAT with RS-232 Interface

The SBE 16plus is a high accuracy conductivity and temperature recorder (pressure optional). It is designed for moorings and other long-duration, fixed-site deployments. The SBE 16plus has 6 amplified A/D input channels and conditioned power of 500 ma is avaliable for auxiliary sensors, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, fluorescence, PAR etc.

Specifications

  Temperature
(°C)
Conductivity (S m-1) Optional Pressure - strain Gauge Optional Pressure - Quartz
Measurement Range -5 to +35 0 to 9 0 to full scale range: 20 / 100 / 350 / 600 / 1000 / 2000 / 3500 / 7000 metres 0 to full scale range: 20 / 60 / 130 / 200 / 270 / 680 / 1400 / 2000 / 4200 / 7000 / 10500 metres
Initial accuracy 0.005 0.0005 0.1% of full scale range 0.02% of full scale range
Typical Stability 0.0002 month-1 0.0003 month-1 0.05% of full scale range 0.025% of full scale range
Resolution 0.0001 0.00005 typical 0.002% of full scale range Depends on sample integration, 0.0006% of full scale range for 1 s integration
Sensor Calibration +1 to +32 0 to 9; physical calibration over range 2.6 to 65 m-1 plus zero conductivity (air) Ambient pressure to full scale range in 5 steps Ambient pressure to full scale range in 5 steps
Memory 8 MB FLASH memory
Data Storage Converted temperature and conductivity: 6 bytes per sample
Time: 4 bytes per sample
Pressure (optional): 5 bytes per sample
Real-Time Clock Watch-crystal type 32,768 Hz; accuracy (±1 minutes/year)
Standard Internal Batteries 9 alkaline D-cells. Provides sufficient capacity for 145,000 samples for a CTD and 5M pump
Housing Titanium pressure case rated at 7000 metres
Weight (without pressure) In water: 8.6 kg
In air: 13.7 kg

Further information can be found via the following link:Official SBE 16plus Manual

Seapoint Turbidity Meter

The Seapoint Turbidity Meter detects light scattered by particles suspended in water, generating an output voltage proportional to turbidity or suspended solids. Range is selected by two digital lines which can be hard wired or microprocessor controlled, thereby choosing the appropriate range and resolution for measurement of extremely clean to very turbid waters. The offset voltage is within 1 mV of zero and requires no adjustment across gains. The optical design confines the sensing volume to within 5 cm of the sensor allowing near-bottom measurements and minimizing errant reflections in restricted spaces.

Sensor specifications, current at August 2006, are given in the table below.

Sensor Specifications

Power requirements 7 - 20 VDC, 3.5 mA avg., 6 mA pk.
Output 0 - 5.0 VDC
Output Time Constant 0.1 sec.
RMS Noise> < 1 mV
Power-up transient period < 1 sec.
Light Source Wavelength 880 nm
Sensing Distance (from windows) < 5 cm (approx.)
Linearity < 2% deviation 0 - 750 FTU

  Gain Sensitivity (mV FTU-1) Range (FTU)
Sensitivity/Range 100x
20x
5x
1x
200
40
10
2
25
125
500
**

** output is non-linear above 750 FTU.

Further details can be found in the manufacturer's specification sheet.

Data Processing: NOCL Sea-Bird SBE 16plus SEACAT with Seapoint Turbidity Sensor

Data Originator's Processing

The following procedures were carried out before the data were supplied to BODC.

Data were downloaded by the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (POL) [since 01 April 2010, the National Oceanography Centre Liverpool (NOCL)] from the instrument logger, and factory calibrations were applied to the temperature and conductivity channels. The instruments are returned to the manufacturer for recalibration approximately every two years.

The data were then reformatted by POL/NOCL to a standard ASCII format for display on the Coastal Observatory website. The originator carried out limited quality control checks, which involved looking for obvious anomalies in the data, cross-checking against other datasets and timing checks.

BODC Data Processing

The data files (ASCII format) were downloaded by BODC from the POL Coastal Observatory web site. The files were reformatted to qxf format using BODC transfer function 318. The following table shows how the originator's variables were mapped to appropriate BODC parameter codes:

Originator's Variable Units Description BODC Parameter Code Units Comments
Temperature °C Temperature of the water column TEMPPR01 °C Data supplied as ITS-90
Conductivity S m-1 Electrical conductivity of the water column by in-situ conductivity cell CNDCPR01 S m-1 -
Pressure dbar Pressure exerted by the water column PREXPS01 dbar -
Turbidity FTU Turbidity of the water column by Seapoint turbidity meter and laboratory calibration against formazin TURBSP01 NTU FTU=NTU
- - Practical salinity of the water column by conductivity cell and computation using UNESCO 1983 algorithm PSALPR01 - Derived at BODC during transfer from MATLAB Seawater Toolbox program 'sw_salt'. This uses UNESCO 1983 algorithm (see reference)

Salinity calculation

Salinity (PSS-78) was computed during transfer using the MATLAB sw_salt routine:

where

Quality control

The reformatted data were visualised using the in-house EDSERPLO software. Suspect and missing data were marked by adding appropriate quality control flags.

References

Fofonoff, N.P., and R.C. Millard Jr., 1983 "Algorithms for computation of fundamental properties of seawater", UNESCO technical paper in marine science 44, 53pp.

General Data Screening carried out by BODC

BODC screen both the series header qualifying information and the parameter values in the data cycles themselves.

Header information is inspected for:

Documents are written by BODC highlighting irregularities which cannot be resolved.

Data cycles are inspected using time or depth series plots of all parameters. Currents are additionally inspected using vector scatter plots and time series plots of North and East velocity components. These presentations undergo intrinsic and extrinsic screening to detect infeasible values within the data cycles themselves and inconsistencies as seen when comparing characteristics of adjacent data sets displaced with respect to depth, position or time. Values suspected of being of non-oceanographic origin may be tagged with the BODC flag denoting suspect value; the data values will not be altered.

The following types of irregularity, each relying on visual detection in the plot, are amongst those which may be flagged as suspect:

If a large percentage of the data is affected by irregularities then a Problem Report will be written rather than flagging the individual suspect values. Problem Reports are also used to highlight irregularities seen in the graphical data presentations.

Inconsistencies between the characteristics of the data set and those of its neighbours are sought and, where necessary, documented. This covers inconsistencies such as the following:

This intrinsic and extrinsic screening of the parameter values seeks to confirm the qualifying information and the source laboratory's comments on the series. In screening and collating information, every care is taken to ensure that errors of BODC making are not introduced.


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:

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:

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:

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

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:

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


Oceans 2025 Theme 10

Oceans 2025 is a strategic marine science programme, bringing marine researchers together to increase people's knowledge of the marine environment so that they are better able to protect it for future generations.

Theme 10: Integration of Sustained Observations in the Marine Environment spans all marine domains from the sea-shore to the global ocean, providing data and knowledge on a wide range of ecosystem properties and processes (from ocean circulation to biodiversity) that are critical to understanding Earth system behaviour and identifying change. They have been developed not merely to provide long-term data sets, but to capture extreme or episodic events, and play a key role in the initialisation and validation of models. Many of these SOs will be integrated into the newly developing UK Marine Monitoring Strategy - evolving from the Defra reports Safeguarding our Seas (2002) and Charting Progress (2005), thus contributing to the underpinning knowledge for national marine stewardship. They will also contribute to the UK GOOS Strategic Plan (IACMST, 2006) and the Global Marine Assessment.

Weblink: http://www.oceans2025.org/


Oceans 2025 Theme 10, Sustained Observation Activity 11: Liverpool Bay and Irish Sea Coastal Observatory

Sustained, systematic observations of the ocean and continental shelf seas at appropriate time and space scales allied to numerical models are key to understanding and prediction. In shelf seas these observations address issues as fundamental as 'what is the capacity of shelf seas to absorb change?' encompassing the impacts of climate change, biological productivity and diversity, sustainable management, pollution and public health, safety at sea and extreme events. Advancing understanding of coastal processes to use and manage these resources better is challenging; important controlling processes occur over a broad range of spatial and temporal scales which cannot be simultaneously studied solely with satellite or ship-based platforms.

Considerable effort has been spent by the Proudman Oceangraphic Laboratory (POL) in the years 2001 - 2006 in setting up an integrated observational and now-cast modelling system in Liverpool Bay (see Figure), with the recent POL review stating the observatory was seen as a leader in its field and a unique 'selling' point of the laboratory. Cost benefit analysis (IACMST, 2004) shows that benefits really start to accrue after 10 years. In 2007 - 2012 exploitation of (i) the time series being acquired, (ii) the model-data synthesis and (iii) the increasingly available quantities of real-time data (e.g. river flows) can be carried out through Sustained Observation Activity (SO) 11, to provide an integrated assessment and short term forecasts of the coastal ocean state.

BODC image

Overall Aims and Purpose of SO 11

Measurement and Modelling Activities

More detailed information on this Work Package is available at pages 32 - 35 of the official Oceans 2025 Theme 10 document: Oceans 2025 Theme 10

Weblink: http://www.oceans2025.org/

References:

IACMST., 2004. The Economics of Sustained Marine Measurements. IACMST Information Document, N0.11, Southampton: IACMST, 96 pp


Data Activity or Cruise Information

Data Activity

Start Date (yyyy-mm-dd) 2008-05-15
End Date (yyyy-mm-dd) 2008-06-25
Organization Undertaking ActivityProudman Oceanographic Laboratory (now National Oceanography Centre, Liverpool)
Country of OrganizationUnited Kingdom
Originator's Data Activity IdentifierPOLRIG1038
Platform Categoryfixed benthic node

Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Rig#1038

Deployment and Recovery

This rig was deployed as part of the Liverpool Bay Coastal Observatory during R.V. Prince Madog cruise PD14_08. All the major moorings objectives were accomplished during this cruise, except for 2 stations where sediment grabs were not collected for timing reasons. Recovery of the rig took place during R.V. Prince Madog cruise PD19_08.

Rig Position 53° 26.990'N 3° 38.476'W
Water Depth 20.1 m
Deployed 15 May 2008 14:47 GMT
Recovered 25 June 2008 18:45 GMT
No. of days 42

Rig Description

This rig was a bottom frame comprising of the following instruments 0.5 m above the seabed; Waves Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) and a SeaBird 16plus. The frame was fitted with a fizz link, a spooler with 50m of rope for recovery of the ballast weight and two Benthos releases s/n 71922 (Rx 11.5 kHz, Tx 12.0 kHz, release A) and s/n 72382 (Rx 14.5 kHz, Tx 12.0 kHz, release A).


Instrument Serial Number Parameters Measured Sampling Description Comments
RDI 600 kHz Waves ADCP 5803 Horizontal current velocity components
Vertical current velocity components
Temperature
Pressure
Mode 1: 100 pings every 10 minutes (velocity standard deviation 0.007 m s-1). 35 x 1 m bins (2.65 - 36.65 m above the bed). Sound velocity calculated from temperature, depth and salinity of 32.
Beam co-ordinates - speeds, correlation, echo intensity, % good.
Clock set at 16:39 GMT 12th May 2008; delayed start 06:00 GMT 13th May 2008.
Sea-Bird 16plus
V RS-232 1.8c
5310 Temperature
Conductivity
Pressure
Turbidity
Sample interval 600 s; digiquartz integration time 40 s, range 400; pump 0.5 s, 1 s delay. Fitted to base of frame with pumped conductivity sensor underneath.
SeaPoint turbidity sensor 10320 taped to roll bar; set up for 0 - 125 FTU range.
Clock set at 17:25 GMT 12th May 2008; delayed start at 06:00 GMT 13th May 2008.

Cruise

Cruise Name PD14/08
Departure Date 2008-05-13
Arrival Date 2008-05-16
Principal Scientist(s)Matthew Palmer (Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory)
Ship RV Prince Madog

Complete Cruise Metadata Report is available here


Fixed Station Information

Fixed Station Information

Station NameCoastal Observatory Site 21
CategoryOffshore location
Latitude53° 27.13' N
Longitude3° 38.48' W
Water depth below MSL25.0 m

Liverpool Bay Coastal Observatory Site 21

This station is one of 34 stations regularly visited by the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (POL) as part of the Liverpool Bay Coastal Observatory. The main activity at this site are CTD profiles (since August 2002) which are taken during each site visit. This station was also the secondary mooring site (also referred to as Site B) for the Coastal Observatory project between April 2005 and March 2010. After March 2010 the moorings were moved to site 20. The station lies within a box of mean water depth 24 m with the following co-ordinates:

Box Corner Latitude (+ve North) Longitude (+ve East)
North-west corner 53.46028 -3.658
South-east corner 53.44249 -3.6105

The position of this station relative to the other POL Coastal Observatory sites can be seen from the figure below.

BODC image

Mooring Deployment History

2010

Rig Type Typical Instruments Rig IDs Comment
Frame ADCP, CTD, OBS, Telemetry ADCP 1088, 1092, 1096, 1100, 1104, 1107, 1111 January - December
SmartBuoy CT, FL, OBS, BD 1087, 1091, 1095, 1099, 1103, 1110, 1115 January - December

2009

Rig Type Typical Instruments Rig IDs Comment
Frame ADCP, CTD, OBS, Telemetry ADCP 1057, 1065, 1069, 1072, 1076, 1080, 1084 January - December
SmartBuoy CT, FL, OBS, BD 1056, 1064, 1068, 1075, 1079, 1083 January - December

2008

Rig Type Typical Instruments Rig IDs Comment
Frame ADCP, CTD, OBS, Telemetry ADCP 1026, 1030, 1033, 1038, 1053 January - December
SmartBuoy CT, FL, OBS, BD LB2_023/1025, LB2_024/1029, LB2_025/1034, LB2_026/1037, LB2_029/1052 January - December

2007

Rig Type Typical Instruments Rig IDs Comment
Frame ADCP, CTD, OBS, Telemetry ADCP 992, 999, 1002, 1007, 1012, 1019 January - December
SmartBuoy CT, FL, OBS, BD 991, LB2_016/998, LB2_017/1003, LB2_018/1006, LB2_019/1011, LB2_020/1015, LB2_021/1018, LB2_022/1022 January - December

2006

Rig Type Typical Instruments Rig IDs Comment
Frame ADCP, CTD, OBS, Telemetry ADCP 952, 960, 964, 968, 972, 976, 980, 984, 988 January - December
SmartBuoy CT, FL, OBS, BD LB2_006, LB2_007, LB2_008, LB2_009, LB2_010, LB2_011, LB2_012, LB2_013/983, LB2_014/987 January - December

2005

Rig Type Typical Instruments Rig IDs Comment
Frame ADCP, CTD, OBS 923, 927, 931, 936, 940, 943, 947, 950 January - December
SmartBuoy CT, FL, OBS, WMS LB2_001/926, LB2_002/930, LB2_003/935, LB2_004/939, LB2_005/946 May - December
Marker buoy CT 922 April - May

CTD Sampling History

Year Number of Cruises Total Casts per year
2011 1 1
2010 5 5
2009 7 18
2008 9 16
2007 8 17
2006 9 18
2005 9 14
2004 8 8
2003 9 9
2002 2 2

The CTD instrument package for these cruises was a Sea-Bird 911plus, with beam transmissometer, fluorometer, LICOR PAR sensor, LISST-25, and oxygen sensor.

Key

ADCP = Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler
BD = Bacterial degradation experiment
CT = Conductivity and temperature logger
CTD = Conductivity, temperature, depth sensor
FL = Fluorometer
OBS = Optical Backscatter Turbidity meter
Telemetry ADCP = ADCP sending data back to shore in real-time
WMS = Automatic water sampler

Other Series linked to this Fixed Station for this cruise - 838320 838344 838381 948247 948259 1082198 1082217 1082278

Other Cruises linked to this Fixed Station (with the number of series) - PD01/08 (11) PD02/07 (3) PD02/09B (11) PD02/10 (1) PD04/06 (3) PD04/07 (4) PD06/07 (8) PD07/08 (8) PD09/07 (8) PD09/08 (10) PD11/05 (2) PD11/11 (1) PD12/06 (3) PD12/09 (5) PD13/07 (10) PD14/08 (8) PD16/06 (3) PD16/07 (9) PD17/10 (1) PD18/05 (3) PD18/09 (5) PD19/08 (2) PD20/06 (3) PD20/07 (7) PD21/05 (3) PD21/10 (1) PD22/06 (3) PD23/07 (9) PD23/08 (7) PD24/09 (3) PD25/05 (3) PD25/06 (3) PD27/07 (9) PD29/06 (3) PD29/08 (8) PD29/10 (1) PD30/05 (6) PD33/08 (1) PD33/09 (6) PD34/05 (1) PD35/06 (6) PD36/10 (1) PD37/06 (6) PD37/08 (10) PD38/09 (3) PD41/05 (5) PD43/11 (1) PD47/09 (5) PD48/05 (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