Metadata Report for BODC Series Reference Number 1764009

• 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

Loch Sunart Short-term Mooring Quality Report

Screening and Quality Control

Data have had quality control applied by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) with suspect data being removed. Data then went through BODC quality control procedure where suspect data are flagged but not removed.

During screening, noisy periods were observed in CPHLZZXX and TURBXXXX and obvious spikes were looked at in closer detail and flagged if necessary. Any extended periods of suspect data were discussed with SEPA before flagging.

Oxygen saturation was high in places with some points of supersaturation but data were not considered to require flagging.

Within the data there are periods where the sampling period is longer than the expected 15 or 30 minutes which the originator believes to be due to a power issue with the sonde.

CPHLZZXX

For a period of five days at the end of series 4, CPHLZZXX is constantly zero μ L^-1 and every few hours increases to 285.3 μ L^-1 for two cycles after which CPHLZZXX returns to zero. This has been discussed with the originator and SEPA have confirmed that they have marked this data as suspect. SEPA would not recommend using these data and so the values have been flagged suspect by BODC.

TURBXXXX

While discussing CPHLZZXX with the originator, it was also highlighted that SEPA had identified a potential biofouling event causing a spike in the TURBXXXX data covering the later half of series 6. SEPA would recommend removing these data from the series, however the affected data have been flagged suspect by BODC.

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

YSI 6-Series multiparameter water quality sondes

Basic information

Comprehensive multi-parameter, water quality monitoring sondes. Designed for long-term monitoring, profiling and spot sampling. The 6-series may be split into several categories: V2 Sondes, 600 Sondes, Drinking Water Sondes and System. Each category has a slightly different design purpose with V2 Sondes ideal for long-term monitoring with a greater number of parameters, whereas 600 sondes are ideal for specific applications with fewer parameters available.

Model features/parameters

^*Freshwater only^**Calculated parameters

Sensor Specifications

For further information, please see the manufacturer's manual and data sheet.

SEPA Short-term Mooring Instrumentation

The SEPA monitoring project has obtained hydrographic data across various long and short term moorings through the deployment of a YSI 6600 multi-parameter-sonde.

SEPA's first short-term mooring occured at Campbeltown between 2010 and 2011 to assess water quality impacts on Campbeltown Loch from an industrial discharge. However, only a small dataset was recovered as the buoy broke loose during a storm. The sonde was attached to a fixed mooring buoy at the surface of the water column.

A second short-term mooring was located in Loch Sunart as part of a water quality investigation in 2012. Again, the sonde was attached to a fixed mooring buoy at the surface.

An additional short-term project took place in the Carron Estuary in 2014 with a site both upstream and downstream as part of an investigation into dissolved oxygen. At the upstream site the sonde was attached to a fixed mooring buoy at the surface of the water column and at the downstream site the sonde was attached to a floating fender.

BODC processing of SEPA's short-term monitoring buoys

Data Acquisition and Transfer

The data were sent by SEPA as a .csv file and following BODC's procedures the files were checked for consistency and subsequently archived.

The data were reformatted to QXF format using BODC's established procedures. During the transfer process the file was split into cruise-to-cruise series events. The table below shows how the originator's parameters were mapped to BODC parameters and their units:

The standard unit conversion factor of * 31.252 was applied to oxygen concentration during transfer to obtain the BODC units of µmol/l.

The pH channel has not been transferred in the data from the Loch Sunart mooring as the channel is null.

All channels from the Carron Estuary and Campbeltown monitoring buoy sites were transferred.

Data Quality and Screening

Post transfer analysis and crosschecks were applied according to BODC procedures. This involved the screening of data to check flags were appropriately applied whilst also applying further quality control flags where appropriate.

During the originator's data quality checks, suspect data were replaced with one of the following flags: 'No sensor', 'Quality Control failure', 'Quality Control Spike Removed', 'Quality Control Spike removed, wiper incorrectly parking over sensor', 'Quality control data removed due to heavy biofouling of instrument' and 'Power Failure'. These values were all flagged as 'Null' by BODC as no data were available when these flags were applied.

SEPA originator's processing document for Loch Sunart short-term monitoring buoy

Data Acquisition and Analysis

Data were obtained from a YSI probe attached to a mooring deployed in Loch Sunart. The mooring was serviced and deployed by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) as part of a study into the water quality of the area. Data were submitted in GMT format.

Quality and Screening

Once downloaded the data went through SEPA data quality checks with suspect data removed and replaced with the relevant flags to inform future users of the reason for any missing data.

Submission

The data were then submitted to BODC through ftp as a .csv file.

Project Information

No Project Information held for the Series

Data Activity or Cruise Information

Cruise

Complete Cruise Metadata Report is available here

Fixed Station Information

Fixed Station Information

SEPA Loch Sunart Fixed Station Mooring

The buoy is located in Loch Sunart and provides measurements of dissolved oxygen, salinity, temperature, chlorophyll and turbidity. Maintenance takes place initially after three months and then on an approximately monthly basis using one of SEPA's support vessels.

For the first ten weeks of the data, samples are collected every 30 minutes after which the sampling period changes to every 15 minutes.

The water depth has been estimated at 35 metres by the originator.

Related Fixed Station activities are detailed in Appendix 1

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:

Appendix 1: SEPA_LochSunart

Related series for this Fixed Station 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.