Metadata Report for BODC Series Reference Number 1173448

• 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

Quality report for James Clark Ross cruise JR20061003 (JR152, JR159) XBT data

All profiles were screened and M flags applied to cycles where suspect data were identified. The following series/cycles were flagged:

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

Instrument description

Lockheed Martin Sippican T-5 XBT Probe

The Expendable Bathythermograph system uses a sea water ground. As soon as an electrode within the nose of the expendable probe makes contact with the water, the circuit is complete and temperature or sound velocity data can be telemetered to the ship-board data processing equipment. The T-5 XBT Probe can be used within a maximum depth of 1830 m, with a rated ship speed of 6 knots and has a vertical resolution of 65 cm.

Manufacturer specifications can be found here

BODC processing document for XBT data

BODC Processing

The files were sent to BODC in .EDF format, which can be opened with a text editor. No processing was carried out at BODC.

The files were converted to BODC internal format (QXF) using BODC established procedures. There was no need to apply unit conversions as the originator's units were equivalent to the units stored on BODC's vocabulary dictionary.

The following table shows how the variables within the originator's files were mapped to appropriate BODC parameter codes:

Reformatted XBT data were visualised using the in-house graphical editor EDSERPLO. Quality control flags were applied to data as necessary.

Originator's processing document for JR20061003 (JR152, JR159) XBT data

A total of 12 expendable bathymetry thermographs (XBT) were launched, at pre-defined positions, during cruise JR20061003 (JR152, JR159) whilst the ship was sailing. The data were transferred to a PC via a USB interface that provided the communication with the XBT launcher.

The profiles were obtained with T5 Sippican probes and data were not processed or calibrated by the originator.

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

• DISCOVERY-OEM: Ocean Ecosystems and Management
• DISCOVERY-FOOD-WEBS: Scotia Sea FOOD-WEBS
• DISCOVERY-FLEXICON: FLEXIbility and CONstraints in life histories
• DISCOVERY-CEMI: Circumpolar Ecosystems; Modelling and Integration

Global Science in an Antarctic Context (GSAC)

Introduction

GSAC is the British Antarctic Survey research programme from 2005 to 2009, it encompasses 8 programmes, including 18 projects as well as long-term monitoring and survey activities.

This programme was created to fulfill BAS vision of becoming, by 2012, the leading international centre making use of the of the Antarctic and the Southern Ocean. This research programme consists of an integrated set of inter-disciplinary research, monitoring and survey activities designed to extract new knowledge from the Antarctic, provide information to policy makers and benefit society in general.

GSAC supports the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) strategy Science for a Sustainable Future and contributes to other programmes such as the World Climate Research programme, the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research and the International Polar Year 2007-2009.

The programme's components are highly interconnected and its content makes full use of BAS Antarctic infrastructure and builds on previous BAS research, survey and monitoring, whilst also exploring new areas.

The programmes contributing to GSAC are:

• ACES- Antarctic Climate and the Earth System
• BIOFLAME- Biodiversity, Function, limits and Adaptation from Molecules to Ecosystems
• CACHE- Climate and Chemistry: Forcings, Feedbacks and Phasings in the Earth System
• COMPLEXITY- Natural Complexity Programme
• DISCOVERY 2010- Integrating Southern Ocean Ecosystems into the Earth System
• GEACEP- Greenhouse to Ice-House Evolution of the Antarctic Cryosphere and Paleoenvironment
• GRADES- Glacial Retreat in Antarctica and Deglatiation of the Earth System
• SEC- Sun Earth Connections
• LTMS- Long Term Monitoring and Survey

More detail is provided in each programme document.

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: