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Metadata Report for BODC Series Reference Number 1374558


Metadata Summary

Data Description

Data Category Currents -subsurface Eulerian
Instrument Type
NameCategories
Teledyne RDI Ocean Surveyor 75kHz vessel-mounted ADCP  current profilers
Instrument Mounting research vessel
Originating Country United Kingdom
Originator Prof Penny Holliday
Originating Organization National Oceanography Centre, Southampton
Processing Status banked
Online delivery of data Download not available
Project(s) Oceans 2025
Oceans 2025 Theme 10
Oceans 2025 Theme 10 SO4
 

Data Identifiers

Originator's Identifier OS75_JC086NNX_01
BODC Series Reference 1374558
 

Time Co-ordinates(UT)

Start Time (yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm) 2013-05-06 19:22
End Time (yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm) 2013-05-25 08:43
Nominal Cycle Interval 16.0 metres
 

Spatial Co-ordinates

Start Latitude 55.46650 N ( 55° 28.0' N )
End Latitude 56.55190 N ( 56° 33.1' N )
Start Longitude 6.39230 W ( 6° 23.5' W )
End Longitude 9.37330 W ( 9° 22.4' W )
Positional Uncertainty 0.05 to 0.1 n.miles
Minimum Sensor or Sampling Depth 37.93 m
Maximum Sensor or Sampling Depth 789.99 m
Minimum Sensor or Sampling Height -
Maximum Sensor or Sampling Height -
Sea Floor Depth -
Sea Floor Depth Source -
Sensor or Sampling Distribution Sensor fixed with measurements made at multiple depths within a fixed range (e.g. ADCP) - The sensor is at a fixed depth, but measurements are made remotely from the sensor over a range of depths (e.g. ADCP measurements)
Sensor or Sampling 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 CODERankUnitsTitle
BINNUMBR0DimensionlessBin number
AADYAA011DaysDate (time from 00:00 01/01/1760 to 00:00 UT on day)
AAFDZZ011DaysTime (time between 00:00 UT and timestamp)
ACYCAA011DimensionlessSequence number
ALATGP011DegreesLatitude north relative to WGS84 by unspecified GPS system
ALONGP011DegreesLongitude east relative to WGS84 by unspecified GPS system
APEWGP011Centimetres per secondEastward velocity of measurement platform relative to ground surface by unspecified GPS system
APNSGP011Centimetres per secondNorthward velocity of measurement platform relative to ground surface by unspecified GPS system
APSAGP011Metres per secondSpeed of measurement platform relative to ground surface {speed over ground} by unspecified GPS system
DBINAA012MetresDepth (spatial coordinate) of ADCP bin relative to water surface {bin depth} in the water body
LCEWAS012Centimetres per secondEastward velocity of water current (Eulerian measurement) in the water body by shipborne acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP)
LCNSAS012Centimetres per secondNorthward velocity of water current (Eulerian measurement) in the water body by shipborne acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP)
LCSAAS012Centimetres per secondSpeed of water current (Eulerian measurement) in the water body by shipborne acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP)

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

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

RD Instruments- Ocean Surveyor 75kHz Vessel mounted ADCP.

Long-Range Mode
Vertical Resolution Cell Size3 Max. Range (m)1 Precision (cm/s)2
8m 520 - 650 30
16m 560 - 700 17
High-Precision Mode
Vertical Resolution Cell Size3 Max. Range (m)1 Precision (cm/s)2
8m 310 - 430 12
16m 350 - 450 9

1 Ranges at 1 to 5 knots ship speed are typical and vary with situation.
2 Single-ping standard deviation.
3 User's choice of depth cell size is not limited to the typical values specified.

Profile Parameters

  • Velocity long-term accuracy (typical): ±1.0%, ±0.5cm/s
  • Velocity range: -5 to 9m/s
  • # of depth cells: 1 - 128
  • Max ping rate: 0.7

Bottom Track

Maximum altitude (precision <2cm/s): 950m

Echo Intensity Profile

Dynamic range: 80dB
Precision: ±1.5dB

Transducer and Hardware

Beam angle: 30°
Configuration: 4-beam phased array
Communications: RS-232 or RS-422 hex-ASCII or binary output at 1200 - 115,200 baud
Output power: 1000W

Standard Sensors

Temperature (mounted on transducer)

  • Range: -5° to 45°C
  • Precision: ±0.1°C
  • Resolution: 0.03°

Environmental

Operating temperature: -5° to 40°C (-5° to 45°C)*
Storage temperature: -30° to 50°C (-30° to 60°C)*

*later instruments have greater range.

Web Page

Further details can be found on the manufacturer's website or in the specification sheet

Extended Ellett Line cruise JC086 75kHz Shipboard ADCP BODC Processing

The data were converted from Mstar format into BODC internal format, a netCDF subset, to allow use of in-house visualisation tools. The table below shows the mapping of originator variables to BODC Parameter codes.

Originator's variable Units Description BODC Parameter Code Units Comments
lon Degrees Longitude ALONGP01 Degrees -
lat Degrees Latitude ALATGP01 Degrees -
depth (of bin) m Depth of ADCP bin DBINAA01 m -
uabs cm/s Absolute Eastward current velocity LCEWAS01 cm/s -
vabs cm/s Absolute Northward current velocity LCNSAS01 cm/s -
uship m/s Ship's Eastward velocity APEWGP01 cm/s Values converted by multiplication by 100.
vship m/s Ship's Northward velocity APNSGP01 cm/s Values converted by multiplication by 100.
speed cm/s Scalar current speed LCSAAS01 cm/s -
shipspd m/s Scalar ship speed APSAGP01 m/s -
- - - BINNUMBR number Added during transfer ro reflect the number of bins in the file

Reformatted data were visually checked using the in-house editor EDSERPLO. No data values were edited or deleted. Flagging was achieved by modification of the associated quality control flag to 'M' for suspect values and 'N' for nulls.

Once quality control screening was complete, the data were archived in the BODC National Oceanographic Database and the associated metadata were loaded into an ORACLE Relational Database Management System.

Extended Ellett Line cruise JC086 75kHz Shipboard ADCP Originator data processing

The following was taken from the JC086 cruise report. For more detailed information please refer to the cruise report.

The 75kHz Ocean Surveyor ADCP is situated on the port drop keel of RRS James Cook. Data are acquired using the RD Instruments VmDas software package. The ship's POSMV data stream was used as the accurate source of heading and position.

ADCP setup

Variable Setting
Number of Bins 48
Bin size 16m
Blank distance 8m
Transducer depth 6.9m
Processing mode Hi resolution short range
Maximum range 800m

Post-processing

The final processing of data was done using the CODAS (Common Ocean Data Access System) suite of software provided by the University of Hawaii. The processing route can be summarised as copying the raw files, converting them into a working format, merging navigation data, deriving velocities, quality control, and conversion of data to matlab and netcdf files.

Calibration

The PC was running RDI software VmDAS and WinADCP. Gyro heading, GPS Ashtech heading, location and time were fed as NMEA messages into the software which was configured to use the Gyro heading for co-ordinate transformation. The PC software logged the PC clock time, stamped the data (start of each ensemble) with that time, and recorded the offset of the PC clock from GPS time. This offset was then applied to the data in the processing path before merging with navigation

When the bottom can be detected, CODAS automatically estimates bottom track corrections of amplitude and angle phase. For this cruise, the following calibration was used: Amplitude = 1.0030, Phase = -9.086° for EA=0, and -0.086° for EA=9.

Interference

No data were collected between 1.30 am and 5 am on 24th May 2013 due to system failure.

References

Griffiths, C. R. et al. 'RRS James Cook Cruise JC086, 6 May - 25 May 2013. Extended Ellett Line cruise report. Scottish Marine Institute, Oban, 229 pp.'


Project Information

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 4: The Extended Ellett Line

The Ellett Line (begun in 1975 and since 1996 the Extended Ellett Line from Scotland to Iceland) crosses important north Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) components and thus provides an additional contribution to understanding the north Atlantic response to climate change. Sustained Observation Activity (SO) 4 will repeat this section annually collecting a wide variety of physical and biogeochemical measurements, and will, to enhance the time variable component, make use of Argo floats and gliders. SO 4 will be implemented by physical, biological and chemical scientists at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) and the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS).

SO 4 formally contributes to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)-funded Marine Environmental Change Network (MECN). Established in 2002 to coordinate and promote the collection and utilisation of marine time-series and long-term data sets, the goal of the network is to use long-term marine environmental data from around the British Isles and Ireland to separate natural fluctuations from global, regional and local anthropogenic impacts.

The specific deliverables for SO 4 are:

  • A time series of the evolution of the hydrography of the northeast Atlantic, together with a more formal understanding of the causes of any changes observed
  • An archived data set available to the international community via the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC)
  • A platform for further scientific research

More detailed information on this Work Package is available at pages 15 - 16 of the official Oceans 2025 Theme 10 document: Oceans 2025 Theme 10

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


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:

  • National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS)
  • Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML)
  • Marine Biological Association (MBA)
  • Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Marine Science (SAHFOS)
  • Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (POL)
  • Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS)
  • Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU)

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:

  • British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC), hosted at POL
  • Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL), hosted at POL
  • Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa (CCAP), hosted at SAMS

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:

  • improve knowledge of how the seas behave, not just now but in the future;
  • help assess what that might mean for the Earth system and for society;
  • assist in developing sustainable solutions for the management of marine resources for future generations;
  • enhance the research capabilities and facilities available for UK marine science.

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

  • Climate, circulation and sea level (Theme 1)
  • Marine biogeochemical cycles (Theme 2)
  • Shelf and coastal processes (Theme 3)
  • Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (Theme 4)
  • Continental margins and deep ocean (Theme 5)
  • Sustainable marine resources (Theme 6)
  • Technology development (Theme 8)
  • Next generation ocean prediction (Theme 9)
  • Integration of sustained observations in the marine environment (Theme 10)

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:

  • physical, biological and chemical parameters sampling throughout the North and South Atlantic during collaborative research cruises aboard NERC's research vessels RRS Discovery, RRS James Cook and RRS James Clark Ross;
  • the Continuous Plankton Recorder being deployed by SAHFOS in the North Atlantic and North Pacific on 'ships of opportunity';
  • physical parameters measured and relayed in near real-time by fixed moorings and ARGO floats;
  • coastal and shelf sea observatory data (Liverpool Bay Coastal Observatory (LBCO) and Western Channel Observatory (WCO)) using the RV Prince Madog and RV Quest.

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


Data Activity or Cruise Information

Cruise

Cruise Name JC086
Departure Date 2013-05-06
Arrival Date 2013-05-26
Principal Scientist(s)Colin R Griffiths (Scottish Association for Marine Science)
Ship RRS James Cook

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

SeaDataNet Quality Control Flags

The following single character qualifying flags may be associated with one or more individual parameters with a data cycle:

Flag Description
0 no quality control
1 good value
2 probably good value
3 probably bad value
4 bad value
5 changed value
6 value below detection
7 value in excess
8 interpolated value
9 missing value
A value phenomenon uncertain
B nominal value
Q value below limit of quantification