Metadata Report for BODC Series Reference Number 1362281

• 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 RV Sea Vigil, RV Water Guardian, RRS Challenger CH108A and Tweed campaign cruises.

Document History

Converted from CDROM documentation.

Content of data series

Data Originator

Dr Reg Uncles, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK.

NB Users interested in nutrient data should be aware that there are continuous surface nutrient measurements for each RRS Challenger cruise included in the underway data set.

Sampling strategy and methodology

RV Sea Vigil cruises SV7B, SV7C, SV9A, SV9B, SV10A, SV10B, SV12A, SV12B, SV13A, SV13B, SV14B, SV14C, SV15A, SV15B, SV16, SV18A, SV18B, SV19A, SV19B, SV20B, SV21A, SV21B, SV22B, SV22C, SV23C, SV23D, SV24A, SV24B, SV25A, SV25B, SV26A, SV26B, SV27B, SV27D, SV28A, SV28B, SV29A, SV29B, SV30A, SV30B, SV31A, SV31B, SV34A, SV34B, SV35A, and SV35B.
RV Water Guardian cruises WG11B and WG11C.
Tweed campaigns TWEED01, TWEED02, TWEED03, TWEED04, TWEED05, TWEED06, TWEED07, TWEED08, TWEED09, TWEED10, TWEED11, TWEED12 and TWEED13.
RRS Challenger cruise CH108A

For the Challenger cruise data (a small number of sub-surface samples from CH108A) the water samples were drawn from the water bottles on the CTD rosette. The unfiltered samples were stored in a refrigerator until analysed (within 24 hours) as discrete samples on an Alpkem autoanalyser using established colorimetric techniques.

The autoanalyser was operated on the Sea Vigil cruises and Tweed campaigns in real time. Water from either the ship's moon pool or an overside pump was continuously flushed through a small reservoir via a continuous filter block (Morris et al., 1978) containing a 0.45 micron pore filter. The autoanalyser inlet line was kept in a reservoir of MilliQ water. On approaching a sampling station the line was switched to the filtered seawater reservoir. In this way internal blockages of the autoanalyser plumbing, caused by continuous exposure to nutrient-rich water, were avoided. Discrete sampling and manual filtering was used as a fallback strategy if operational difficulties were encountered with the autoanalyser. Samples were analysed as soon as the instrument was repaired.

The segmented-flow autoanalyser used was either a Technicon AAII or an Akpkem. In either case it was a four-channel instrument analysing various combinations of ammonium, nitrate plus nitrite, nitrite, phosphate and silicate. The chemistries used were as follows:

On some Sea Vigil cruises ammonium was analysed by a flow injection technique. The method was based upon the conversion of the ammonium ion into gaseous ammonia across a hydrophobic membrane. It is fully described in Willason and Johnson (1986).

References

Balls, P.B. and Laslett, R., 1991. A simple estuarine water sampler suitable for trace metals and other constituents. Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science 33, 623-629.

Mantoura, R.F.C. and Woodward, E.M.S., 1983. Optimisation of the indophenol blue method for the automated determination of ammonia in estuarine waters. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 17, 219-224.

Morris, A.W., Howland, R.J.M. and Bale, A.J. (1978). A filtration unit for use with continuous autoanalytical systems applied to highly turbid waters. Est. Coast. Mar. Sci. 6, 105-109.

Ormaza-Gonzalez, F.I. and Statham, P.J., 1996. A comparison of methods for the determination of dissolved and particulate phosphorus in natural waters. Water Research, 30(1), 2739-2747.

Parsons, T.R., Maita, Y. and Lalli, C.M., 1984. A Manual of Chemical and Biological Methods for Seawater Analysis. Pergamon Press.

Willason S.W. and Johnson, K.S, 1986. A rapid, highly sensitive technique for the determination of ammonia in sea water. Mar. Biol. 91, 285-290.

Project Information

LOIS River-Atmosphere-Coast Study (LOIS - RACS)

Introduction

The Land-Ocean Interaction Study (LOIS) was a NERC research programme designed to study processes in the coastal zone. The Rivers, Atmosphere and Coasts Study (RACS) was a major component of LOIS that looked at land-sea interactions in the coastal zone and the major exchanges (physical, chemical and biological) between rivers and estuaries and the atmosphere. The study focused on the east coast of the UK from the Wash to the Tweed.

RACS included several sub-components

• BIOTA - A study of salt marshes of the Humber and Wash
• RACS (A) - An atmospheric chemistry study looking at air mass changes from the Wash into East Anglia
• RACS (C) - A study of the estuaries, coasts and coastal waters between Great Yarmouth and Berwick upon Tweed.
  1. The coastal oceangraphic survey
  2. The Humber estuarine study
  3. The Tweed estuarine study
  4. The Holderness experiment
• RACS (R) - A study of rivers that drain into the North Sea

RACS (A) was coordinated by the University of East Anglia and RACS (C) by the Plymouth Marine Laboratory.

RACS (A)

The bulk of the RACS (A) data set was collected during two field campaigns in the winter (October/November) of 1994 and the summer (May/June) of 1995. During these campaigns data were collected continuously from the University of East Anglia Atmospheric Observatory at Weybourne on the north Norfolk coast. An instrumented vessel was stationed offshore to provide a second sampling site to allow changes in a given air mass to be monitored. The Imperial College Jetstream research aircraft made one flight during each campaign to provide a link between the two surface stations. The Jetstream made four additional flights in 1996 and 1997.

RACS (C)

The coastal oceanographic survey

The coastal oceanographic data set was collected during a series of 17 RRS Challenger cruise legs. Most cruises covered two survey grids. One from Great Yarmouth to the Humber designed around the distribution of the sandbanks and a second simple zig-zag grid from the Humber to Berwick on Tweed. A large number of anchor stations, usually over one or two tidal cycles, were worked in the area of the Humber mouth or the Holderness coast.

The Humber estuarine study

The Humber estuarine data set was collected during a series of 33 campaigns on the Environment Agency vessels Sea Vigil and Water Guardian in the Humber, Trent and Ouse river systems at approximately monthly intervals between June 1993 and December 1996. Each campaign consisted of two or three one-day cruises. The tracks covered the estuary from the tidal limits of both Trent and Ouse to Spurn Point. Instrumental and sample data are available from a series of fixed stations that were sampled during every campaign.

The Tweed estuarine study

The Tweed estuarine data set was collected during a series of 13 campaigns using RV Tamaris in association with a rigid inflatable vessel at approximately monthly intervals between July 1996 and July 1997. Each campaign covered the tidal reaches of the River Tweed.

The Holderness experiment

The Holderness Experiment was designed to monitor the process of sediment transport along the Holderness coastline. It consisted of three moored instrument deployments during the winters of 1993-1994, 1994-1995 and 1995-1996. Mooring platforms were deployed at eight stations along two lines off the Holderness coast. A northerly and a southerly line of four stations each were used (N1 - N4 and S1 to S4) with the lowest numbers being inshore. Both lines were approximately perpendicular to the coast, although the S4 station lay to the south of the S line, off Spurn Head.

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: