Metadata Report for BODC Series Reference Number 1362035

• 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

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.

Nutrients for Charles Darwin and RRS Challenger cruises

Document History

Converted from CDROM documentation.

Content of data series

Data Originator

Dr Ken Jones, CCMS Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory, UK.

Sampling strategy and methodology

Charles Darwin cruises CD92B, CD93A and CD93B and RRS Challenger cruises CH120, CH121B, CH123B, CH124, CH125B, CH126B and CH128A.

Samples were collected using either Niskin bottles deployed on a CTD rosette (CD93A, CD93B, CH121B, CH123B, CH125B, CH126B and CH128A) or NIO bottles deployed on a hydrographic wire in conjunction with a CTD cast (CD92B, CH120 and CH124).

The samples were transferred to a refrigerator at 4°C immediately after collection and were analysed within a few hours on a Lachat autoanalyser using standard colorometric chemistry.

Comments on data quality

An intercalibration of the two nutrient data sets was carried out. Simple regression, excluding data values deemed suspect, yielded the following equations:

POL NO₃+NO₂ = 0.93 DML NO₃+NO₂ - 0.14 (R² = 0.80)
POL PO₄ = 0.84 DML PO₄ + 0.07 (R² = 0.78)

The POL nutrient values are systematically significantly lower than the DML data. When individual data values are inspected it can be seen that in some samples the POL values are down to a half of the DML values. This nutrient loss may be attributed to biological activity during sample storage.

The POL data were primarily collected to allow estimation of dissolved organic nitrogen and phosphorus from contemporary total nitrogen and phosphorus determinations. It is therefore recommended that the DML data be used for all considerations of ambient nutrient concentrations and that the POL data be considered as metadata for the TDN and TDP data.

Project Information

LOIS Shelf Edge Study (LOIS - SES)

Introduction

SES was a component of the NERC Land Ocean Interaction Study (LOIS) Community Research Programme that made intensive measurements from the shelf break in the region known as the Hebridean Slope from March 1995 to September 1996.

Scientific Rationale

SES was devoted to the study of interactions between the shelf seas and the open ocean. The specific objectives of the project were:

• To identify the time and space scales of ocean-shelf momentum transmission and to quantify the contributions to ocean-shelf water exchange by physical processes.

• To estimate fluxes of water, heat and certain dissolved and suspended constituents across a section of the shelf edge with special emphasis on net carbon export from, and nutrient import to, the shelf.

• To incorporate process understanding into models and test these models by comparison with observations and provide a basis for estimation of fluxes integrated over time and the length of the shelf.

Fieldwork

The SES fieldwork was focussed on a box enclosing two sections across the shelf break at 56.4-56.5 °N and 56.6-56.7 °N. Moored instrument arrays were maintained throughout the experiment at stations with water depths ranging from 140 m to 1500 m, although there were heavy losses due to the intensive fishing activity in the area. The moorings included meteorological buoys, current meters, transmissometers, fluorometers, nutrient analysers (but these never returned any usable data), thermistor chains, colour sensors and sediment traps.

The moorings were serviced by research cruises at approximately three-monthly intervals. In addition to the mooring work this cruises undertook intensive CTD, water bottle and benthic surveys with cruise durations of up to 6 weeks (3 legs of approximately 2 weeks each).

Moored instrument activities associated with SES comprised current measurements in the North Channel in 1993 and the Tiree Passage from 1995-1996. These provided boundary conditions for SES modelling activities.

Additional data were provided through cruises undertaken by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) in a co-operative programme known as SESAME.

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: