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Metadata Report for BODC Series Reference Number 1665233


Metadata Summary

Data Description

Data Category Water sample data
Instrument Type
NameCategories
Niskin bottle  discrete water samplers
Instrument Mounting lowered unmanned submersible
Originating Country United Kingdom
Originator Dr Naomi Greenwood
Originating Organization Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science Lowestoft Laboratory
Processing Status banked
Online delivery of data Download available - Ocean Data View (ODV) format
Project(s) Coastal Observatory
 

Data Identifiers

Originator's Identifier PD31_02_CTD_PIGX_533:C02
BODC Series Reference 1665233
 

Time Co-ordinates(UT)

Start Time (yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm) 2002-11-13 16:08
End Time (yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm) -
Nominal Cycle Interval -
 

Spatial Co-ordinates

Latitude 53.53267 N ( 53° 32.0' N )
Longitude 3.36419 W ( 3° 21.9' W )
Positional Uncertainty Unspecified
Minimum Sensor or Sampling Depth 0.6 m
Maximum Sensor or Sampling Depth 21.8 m
Minimum Sensor or Sampling Height 4.1 m
Maximum Sensor or Sampling Height 25.3 m
Sea Floor Depth 25.9 m
Sea Floor Depth Source -
Sensor or Sampling Distribution Unspecified -
Sensor or Sampling Depth Datum Unspecified -
Sea Floor Depth Datum Instantaneous - Depth measured below water line or instantaneous water body surface
 

Parameters

BODC CODERankUnitsTitle
ADEPZZ011MetresDepth (spatial coordinate) relative to water surface in the water body
BOTTFLAG1Not applicableSampling process quality flag (BODC C22)
CLSDFLP11Milligrams per cubic metreConcentration standard deviation of chlorophyll-a {chl-a CAS 479-61-8} per unit volume of the water body [particulate >GF/F phase] by filtration, acetone extraction and fluorometry
CPHLFLP11Milligrams per cubic metreConcentration of chlorophyll-a {chl-a CAS 479-61-8} per unit volume of the water body [particulate >GF/F phase] by filtration, acetone extraction and fluorometry
FIRSEQID1DimensionlessBottle firing sequence number
PHAEFLP11Milligrams per cubic metreConcentration of phaeopigments {pheopigments} per unit volume of the water body [particulate >GF/F phase] by filtration, acetone extraction and fluorometry
PHSDFLP11Milligrams per cubic metreConcentration standard deviation of phaeopigments {pheopigments} per unit volume of the water body [particulate >GF/F phase] by filtration, acetone extraction and fluorometry
ROSPOSID1DimensionlessBottle rosette position identifier
SAMPRFNM1DimensionlessSample reference number

Definition of BOTTFLAG

BOTTFLAGDefinition
0The sampling event occurred without any incident being reported to BODC.
1The filter in an in-situ sampling pump physically ruptured during sample resulting in an unquantifiable loss of sampled material.
2Analytical evidence (e.g. surface water salinity measured on a sample collected at depth) indicates that the water sample has been contaminated by water from depths other than the depths of sampling.
3The feedback indicator on the deck unit reported that the bottle closure command had failed. General Oceanics deck units used on NERC vessels in the 80s and 90s were renowned for reporting misfires when the bottle had been closed. This flag is also suitable for when a trigger command is mistakenly sent to a bottle that has previously been fired.
4During the sampling deployment the bottle was fired in an order other than incrementing rosette position. Indicative of the potential for errors in the assignment of bottle firing depth, especially with General Oceanics rosettes.
5Water was reported to be escaping from the bottle as the rosette was being recovered.
6The bottle seals were observed to be incorrectly seated and the bottle was only part full of water on recovery.
7Either the bottle was found to contain no sample on recovery or there was no bottle fitted to the rosette position fired (but SBE35 record may exist).
8There is reason to doubt the accuracy of the sampling depth associated with the sample.
9The bottle air vent had not been closed prior to deployment giving rise to a risk of sample contamination through leakage.

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

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.

If the Information Provider does not provide a specific attribution statement, or if you are using Information from several Information Providers and multiple attributions are not practical in your product or application, you may consider using the following:

"Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0."


Narrative Documents

Niskin Bottle

The Niskin bottle is a device used by oceanographers to collect subsurface seawater samples. It is a plastic bottle with caps and rubber seals at each end and is deployed with the caps held open, allowing free-flushing of the bottle as it moves through the water column.

Standard Niskin

The standard version of the bottle includes a plastic-coated metal spring or elastic cord running through the interior of the bottle that joins the two caps, and the caps are held open against the spring by plastic lanyards. When the bottle reaches the desired depth the lanyards are released by a pressure-actuated switch, command signal or messenger weight and the caps are forced shut and sealed, trapping the seawater sample.

Lever Action Niskin

The Lever Action Niskin Bottle differs from the standard version, in that the caps are held open during deployment by externally mounted stainless steel springs rather than an internal spring or cord. Lever Action Niskins are recommended for applications where a completely clear sample chamber is critical or for use in deep cold water.

Clean Sampling

A modified version of the standard Niskin bottle has been developed for clean sampling. This is teflon-coated and uses a latex cord to close the caps rather than a metal spring. The clean version of the Levered Action Niskin bottle is also teflon-coated and uses epoxy covered springs in place of the stainless steel springs. These bottles are specifically designed to minimise metal contamination when sampling trace metals.

Deployment

Bottles may be deployed singly clamped to a wire or in groups of up to 48 on a rosette. Standard bottles and Lever Action bottles have a capacity between 1.7 and 30 L. Reversing thermometers may be attached to a spring-loaded disk that rotates through 180° on bottle closure.

Discrete chlorophyll and phaeopigment series measured by CEFAS on POL Coastal Observatory cruise 3, RV Prince Madog cruise PD31_02

Data Originator

Naomi Greenwood, CEFAS, Lowestoft

Content of data series

Parameter Units Parameter code CTD Samples
Chlorophyll-a concentration mg m-3 CPHLFLP1 14
Chlorophyll-a concentration standard deviation mg m-3 CLSDFLP1 14
Phaeopigment concentration mg m-3 PHAEFLP1 14
Phaeopigment concentration standard deviation mg m-3 PHSDFLP1 14

Originator's Protocol

Samples for chlorophyll-a and associated phaeopigments were collected from water bottle rosette sampling systems mounted on the lowered CTD. 30 Samples were collected near-surface and near-bed from a total of 7 CTD stations.

For each sample, a 250ml sample is passed through Whatman GF/F filter under low vacuum. The filter paper is folded in half, loosely wrapped in aluminium foil and placed in plastic bag. Samples are stored in this way in a box containing desiccant at -18° C until analysis. Filters are extracted using 8ml 90% acetone and measured fluorometrically according to Tett (1987) for chlorophyll-a and phaeopigments. CEFAS use a Turner 10AU field fluorometer, which has been calibrated using a pure solution of chlorophyll-a.

BODC Processing

The data were supplied to BODC as an Excel spreadsheet. This was converted to an ASCII format file for loading into the BODC archive. Methodology and units were checked against information held in the BODC parameter dictionary and an appropriate parameter code was attributed to each variable. The file's data and metadata fields were then checked prior to loading into a database.

The data were loaded into the database under the Oracle Relational Database Management System by matching the sample's station identifier and depth with the information already held in the database for this cruise. Where the data supplied included multiple replicates for each station, the mean value and standard deviation were loaded into the database. For single samples, the data were loaded without further modification.

Comments on data quality and outstanding issues

There are no data quality issues regarding this dataset.

References

Tett , P. 1987. Plankton. In: Baker, J. M., Wolff, J. W. (Eds.), Biological surveys of estuaries and coasts. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 280-341.

Conditions of Use

CEFAS Disclaimer:
"Reproduction of this material is limited to academic and educational uses only and not for any commercial purposes without permission from CEFAS. The data are provided "as is" and in no event shall CEFAS be liable for any damages, including, without limitation, any disruption, damage and/or loss to your data or computer system that may occur while using this site or data. CEFAS makes no warranty, express or implied, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose; nor assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any data, information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed; nor represents that its use would not infringe the rights of any third party."

The Data Originator must be informed that the supply has occurred.

Due acknowledgement of the Originator and the Originator's Institute is made by the receiver in any product using the data.

No commercial gain ensues from usage of the data.


Project Information

Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal Observatory

The Coastal Observatory was established by Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory as a coastal zone real time observing and monitoring system. The main objective is to understand a coastal sea's response both to natural forcing and to the consequences of human activity. Near real-time measurements will be integrated with coupled models into a pre-operational coastal prediction system whose results will be displayed on the World Wide Web.

The Observatory is expected to grow and evolve as resources and technology allow, all the while building up long time series. A site selection pilot study was carried out in September 2001 and the Observatory became operational in August 2002.

The site is located in Liverpool Bay and is subject to typical coastal sea processes, with strong tides, occasional large storm surges and waves, freshwater input, stable and unstable stratification, high suspended sediment concentration and biogeochemical interaction. Measurements and monitoring will focus on the impacts of storms, variations in river discharge (especially the Mersey), seasonality and blooms in Liverpool Bay.

A variety of methods will be used to obtain measurements, including:

  1. Moored instruments for in situ time series of currents, temperature and salinity profiles, and surface waves and meteorology. It is hoped that turbidity and chlorophyll measurements will be made at another site as the Observatory progresses;
  2. The Cefas Smartbuoy for surface properties such as nutrients and chlorophyll, starting late 2002;
  3. R.V. Prince Madog to carry out spatial surveys and service moorings;
  4. Instrumented ferries for near surface temperature, salinity, turbidity, chlorophyll and nutrients. The first route will be Liverpool to Douglas, Isle of Man, starting late 2002;
  5. Drifters for surface currents and properties such as temperature and salinity, starting in 2004;
  6. Tide gauges, with sensors for meteorology, waves, temperature and salinity, where appropriate;
  7. Meteorological data from Bidston Observatory and Hilbre Island, HF radar and tide gauge sites;
  8. Shore-based HF radar measuring waves and surface currents out to a range of 50 km, starting in 2003;
  9. Satellite data, with infrared for sea surface temperature and visible for chlorophyll and suspended sediment.

The partners currently involved with the project are listed below:

  • Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory
  • British Oceanographic Data Centre
  • UK Meteorological Office
  • Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science
  • Environment Agency
  • Liverpool University and Port Erin Marine Laboratory
  • Bangor University School of Ocean Sciences
  • National Oceanography Centre Southampton
  • Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland

A summary of Coastal Observatory cruises to date on R.V. Prince Madog is given in the table below:

Year No. of cruises Work summary
2001 1 Site selection and pilot study. 95 CTD casts.
2002 4 POL moorings deployed and serviced
Cefas Waverider and SmartBuoy deployed and serviced
103 CTD casts
2003 10 POL moorings serviced
Cefas Waverider and SmartBuoy serviced
341 CTD/LISST casts
2004 9 POL moorings serviced
Cefas Waverider and SmartBuoy serviced
347 CTD/LISST casts
2005 9 POL moorings serviced
Cefas Waverider and SmartBuoy serviced
268 CTD/LISST casts
2006 11 POL moorings serviced
Cefas Waverider and SmartBuoy serviced
508 CTD/LISST casts
2007 9 POL moorings serviced
Cefas Waverider and SmartBuoy serviced
471 CTD/LISST casts
2008 9 POL moorings serviced
Cefas Waverider and SmartBuoy serviced
260 CTD/LISST casts
2009 7 POL moorings serviced
Cefas Waverider and SmartBuoy serviced
213 CTD/LISST casts
2010 8 POL moorings serviced
Cefas Waverider and SmartBuoy serviced
268 CTD/LISST casts
2011 6 POL moorings serviced
Cefas Waverider and SmartBuoy serviced
307 CTD/LISST casts to date, ongoing

Data Activity or Cruise Information

Data Activity

Start Date (yyyy-mm-dd) 2002-11-13
End Date (yyyy-mm-dd) 2002-11-13
Organization Undertaking ActivityProudman Oceanographic Laboratory (now National Oceanography Centre, Liverpool)
Country of OrganizationUnited Kingdom
Originator's Data Activity IdentifierPD31_02_CTD_C02
Platform Categorylowered unmanned submersible

BODC Sample Metadata Report for PD31_02_CTD_C02

Sample reference number Nominal collection volume(l) Bottle rosette position Bottle firing sequence number Minimum pressure sampled (dbar) Maximum pressure sampled (dbar) Depth of sampling point (m) Bottle type Sample quality flag Bottle reference Comments
424766   3 1   22.40   22.50   21.80 Niskin bottle No problem reported    
424767   5 3    1.00    1.10     .60 Niskin bottle No problem reported    
641453   1 2   22.40   22.50   21.80 Niskin bottle No problem reported    

Please note:the supplied parameters may not have been sampled from all the bottle firings described in the table above. Cross-match the Sample Reference Number above against the SAMPRFNM value in the data file to identify the relevant metadata.

Related Data Activity activities are detailed in Appendix 1

Cruise

Cruise Name PD31/02
Departure Date 2002-11-13
Arrival Date 2002-11-14
Principal Scientist(s)Phil J Knight (Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory)
Ship RV Prince Madog

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

Appendix 1: PD31_02_CTD_C02

Related series for this Data Activity are presented in the table below. Further information can be found by following the appropriate links.

If you are interested in these series, please be aware we offer a multiple file download service. Should your credentials be insufficient for automatic download, the service also offers a referral to our Enquiries Officer who may be able to negotiate access.

Series IdentifierData CategoryStart date/timeStart positionCruise
1313435Water sample data2002-11-13 16:08:0053.53267 N, 3.36419 WRV Prince Madog PD31/02