Metadata Report for BODC Series Reference Number 1805650

• 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

RRS James Clark Ross Cruise JR15002 CTD Data Quality Report

Beam attenuation values have been flagged for all series because data values were negative which is not to be expected. Additional flags have been applied to the occasional absent data values and spikes in the data across all channels.

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

Sea-Bird Dissolved Oxygen Sensor SBE 43 and SBE 43F

The SBE 43 is a dissolved oxygen sensor designed for marine applications. It incorporates a high-performance Clark polarographic membrane with a pump that continuously plumbs water through it, preventing algal growth and the development of anoxic conditions when the sensor is taking measurements.

Two configurations are available: SBE 43 produces a voltage output and can be incorporated with any Sea-Bird CTD that accepts input from a 0-5 volt auxiliary sensor, while the SBE 43F produces a frequency output and can be integrated with an SBE 52-MP (Moored Profiler CTD) or used for OEM applications. The specifications below are common to both.

Specifications

Further details can be found in the manufacturer's specification sheet.

RRS James Clark Ross Cruise JR15002 CTD Instrumentation

The CTD unit was a Sea-Bird Electronics 911 plus system, consisting of an SBE 11 plus deck unit and a 9 plus underwater unit. The CTD was fitted with an altimeter, PAR sensor, transmissometer, fluorometer and oxygen as auxiliary sensors. All instruments were attached to a 24 position stainless steel Sea-Bird SBE 32 carousel water sampler equipped with 24 12L Niskin bottle water samplers. The table below provides a detailed list of CTD instrumentation used.

Sea-Bird Electronics SBE 911 and SBE 917 series CTD profilers

The SBE 911 and SBE 917 series of conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) units are used to collect hydrographic profiles, including temperature, conductivity and pressure as standard. Each profiler consists of an underwater unit and deck unit or SEARAM. Auxiliary sensors, such as fluorometers, dissolved oxygen sensors and transmissometers, and carousel water samplers are commonly added to the underwater unit.

Underwater unit

The CTD underwater unit (SBE 9 or SBE 9 plus) comprises a protective cage (usually with a carousel water sampler), including a main pressure housing containing power supplies, acquisition electronics, telemetry circuitry, and a suite of modular sensors. The original SBE 9 incorporated Sea-Bird's standard modular SBE 3 temperature sensor and SBE 4 conductivity sensor, and a Paroscientific Digiquartz pressure sensor. The conductivity cell was connected to a pump-fed plastic tubing circuit that could include auxiliary sensors. Each SBE 9 unit was custom built to individual specification. The SBE 9 was replaced in 1997 by an off-the-shelf version, termed the SBE 9 plus, that incorporated the SBE 3 plus (or SBE 3P) temperature sensor, SBE 4C conductivity sensor and a Paroscientific Digiquartz pressure sensor. Sensors could be connected to a pump-fed plastic tubing circuit or stand-alone.

Temperature, conductivity and pressure sensors

The conductivity, temperature, and pressure sensors supplied with Sea-Bird CTD systems have outputs in the form of variable frequencies, which are measured using high-speed parallel counters. The resulting count totals are converted to numeric representations of the original frequencies, which bear a direct relationship to temperature, conductivity or pressure. Sampling frequencies for these sensors are typically set at 24 Hz.

The temperature sensing element is a glass-coated thermistor bead, pressure-protected inside a stainless steel tube, while the conductivity sensing element is a cylindrical, flow-through, borosilicate glass cell with three internal platinum electrodes. Thermistor resistance or conductivity cell resistance, respectively, is the controlling element in an optimized Wien Bridge oscillator circuit, which produces a frequency output that can be converted to a temperature or conductivity reading. These sensors are available with depth ratings of 6800 m (aluminium housing) or 10500 m (titanium housing). The Paroscientific Digiquartz pressure sensor comprises a quartz crystal resonator that responds to pressure-induced stress, and temperature is measured for thermal compensation of the calculated pressure.

Additional sensors

Optional sensors for dissolved oxygen, pH, light transmission, fluorescence and others do not require the very high levels of resolution needed in the primary CTD channels, nor do these sensors generally offer variable frequency outputs. Accordingly, signals from the auxiliary sensors are acquired using a conventional voltage-input multiplexed A/D converter (optional). Some Sea-Bird CTDs use a strain gauge pressure sensor (Senso-Metrics) in which case their pressure output data is in the same form as that from the auxiliary sensors as described above.

Deck unit or SEARAM

Each underwater unit is connected to a power supply and data logging system: the SBE 11 (or SBE 11 plus) deck unit allows real-time interfacing between the deck and the underwater unit via a conductive wire, while the submersible SBE 17 (or SBE 17 plus) SEARAM plugs directly into the underwater unit and data are downloaded on recovery of the CTD. The combination of SBE 9 and SBE 17 or SBE 11 are termed SBE 917 or SBE 911, respectively, while the combinations of SBE 9 plus and SBE 17 plus or SBE 11 plus are termed SBE 917 plus or SBE 911 plus.

Specifications

Specifications for the SBE 9 plus underwater unit are listed below:

Further details can be found in the manufacturer's specification sheet.

SeaBird SBE35 Deep Ocean Standards Thermometer

The SBE 35 is a high precision thermometer that can be used in fixed point cells or at depths up to 6800 m. It is not affected by shock and vibration, allowing it to be used in calibration laboratories and for thermodynamic measurement of hydro turbine efficiency.

The SBE35 can be used with the SBE32 Carousel Water Sampler and with a real-time or autonomous CTD system. In this case, an SBE35 temperature measurement is collected each time a bottle is fired and the value is stored in EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), eliminating the need for reversing thermometers while providing a high accuracy temperature reading.

The SBE35 is standardized in water triple point (0.0100 °C) and gallium melting point (29.7646 °C) cells, following the methodology applied to the Standard-Grade Platinum Resistance Thermometer (SPRT). However, it does not need a resistance bridge, making it more cost-efficient than an SPRT.

Temperature is determined by applying an AC excitation to reference resistances and an ultrastable aged thermistor. Each of the resulting outputs is digitized by a 20-bit A/D converter. The AC excitation and ratiometric comparison uses a common processing channel, which removes measurement errors due to parasitic thermocouples, offset voltages, leakage currents and gain errors.

Specifications

Further details can be found in the manufacturer's specification sheet and manual.

Chelsea Technologies Group Aquatracka MKIII fluorometer

The Chelsea Technologies Group Aquatracka MKIII is a logarithmic response fluorometer. Filters are available to enable the instrument to measure chlorophyll, rhodamine, fluorescein and turbidity.

It uses a pulsed (5.5 Hz) xenon light source discharging along two signal paths to eliminate variations in the flashlamp intensity. The reference path measures the intensity of the light source whilst the signal path measures the intensity of the light emitted from the specimen under test. The reference signal and the emitted light signals are then applied to a ratiometric circuit. In this circuit, the ratio of returned signal to reference signal is computed and scaled logarithmically to achieve a wide dynamic range. The logarithmic conversion accuracy is maintained at better than one percent of the reading over the full output range of the instrument.

Two variants of the instrument are available, both manufactured in titanium, capable of operating in depths from shallow water down to 2000 m and 6000 m respectively. The optical characteristics of the instrument in its different detection modes are visible below:

* The wavelengths for the turbidity filters are customer selectable but must be in the range 400 to 700 nm. The same wavelength is used in the excitation path and the emission path.

The instrument measures chlorophyll a, rhodamine and fluorescein with a concentration range of 0.01 µg l^-1 to 100 µg l^-1. The concentration range for turbidity is 0.01 to 100 FTU (other wavelengths are available on request).

The instrument accuracy is ± 0.02 µg l^-1 (or ± 3% of the reading, whichever is greater) for chlorophyll a, rhodamine and fluorescein. The accuracy for turbidity, over a 0 - 10 FTU range, is ± 0.02 FTU (or ± 3% of the reading, whichever is greater).

Further details are available from the Aquatracka MKIII specification sheet.

Biospherical Instruments Log Quantum Cosine Irradiance Sensor QCD-905L

The QCD-905L is a submersible radiometer designed to measure irradiance over Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) wavelengths (400-700 nm). It features a cosine directional response when fully immersed in water.

The sensor is a blue-enhanced high stability silicon photovoltaic detector with dielectric and absorbing glass filter assembly, and produces a logarithmic output. Normal output range is -1 to 6 volts with 1 volt per decade. Typically, the instrument outputs 5 volts for full sunlight and has a minimum output of 0.001% full sunlight, where typical noon solar irradiance is 1.5 to 2 x 10¹⁷ quanta cm^-2 s^-1. The instrument can be calibrated with constants for µE cm^-2 s^-1 or quanta cm^-2 s^-1.

The QCD-905L can be coupled to a fixed range data acquisition system like a CTD (Conductivity-Temperature-Depth) profiler or current meter. It has an aluminium and PET housing, and a depth rating of 7000 m.

Specifications

Further details can be found in the manufacturer's manual.

Tritech Digital Precision Altimeter PA200

This altimeter is a sonar ranging device that gives the height above the sea bed when mounted vertically. When mounted in any other attitude the sensor provides a subsea distance. It can be configured to operate on its own or under control from an external unit and can be supplied with simultaneous analogue and digital outputs, allowing them to interface to PC devices, data loggers, telemetry systems and multiplexers.

These instruments can be supplied with different housings, stainless steel, plastic and aluminum, which will limit the depth rating. There are three models available: the PA200-20S, PA200-10L and the PA500-6S, whose transducer options differ slightly.

Specifications

Common specifications are presented below

Further details can be found in the manufacturer's specification sheet.

Paroscientific Absolute Pressure Transducers Series 3000 and 4000

Paroscientific Series 3000 and 4000 pressure transducers use a Digiquartz pressure sensor to provide high accuracy and precision data. The sensor comprises a quartz crystal resonator that responds to pressure-induced stress, and temperature is measured for thermal compensation of the calculated pressure.

The 3000 series of transducers includes one model, the 31K-101, whereas the 4000 series includes several models, listed in the table below. All transducers exhibit repeatability of better than ±0.01% full pressure scale, hysteresis of better than ±0.02% full scale and acceleration sensitivity of ±0.008% full scale /g (three axis average). Pressure resolution is better than 0.0001% and accuracy is typically 0.01% over a broad range of temperatures.

Differences between the models lie in their pressure and operating temperature ranges, as detailed below:

Further details can be found in the manufacturer's specification sheet.

WETLabs C-Star transmissometer

This instrument is designed to measure beam transmittance by submersion or with an optional flow tube for pumped applications. It can be used in profiles, moorings or as part of an underway system.

Two models are available, a 25 cm pathlength, which can be built in aluminum or co-polymer, and a 10 cm pathlength with a plastic housing. Both have an analog output, but a digital model is also available.

This instrument has been updated to provide a high resolution RS232 data output, while maintaining the same design and characteristics.

Specifications

Further details are available in the manufacturer's specification sheet or user guide.

RRS James Clark Ross Cruise JR15002 CTD BODC Processing

The CTD data files were submitted as matlab .mat files. Each file contained data for the following parameters: beam attenuance, depth, conductivity, fluorescence, oxygen, PAR, pressure, salinity, temperature and density. Other metadata such as cruise number were also included

The final processed matlab files were reformatted by transferring only the relevant parameters that have been mapped to BODC Parameter codes into an internal NetCDF (.qxf) file.

The following table shows the mapping of the originator variables to corresponding BODC parameter codes.

ATTNDR01 was originally transferred by BODC. After further examination, all the data values were negative and beyond the expected parameter minimum and maximum values. The cause of the unexpected values are unknown therefore these have been dropped from the final BODC file. The original dataset is available on request.

RRS James Clark Ross Cruise JR15002 CTD Originator Processing

Originator's Sampling

A total of 18 CTD deployments, 17 of which were successful and 1 failed test deployment, were carried out as part of the 36-hour time stations at the P2 and P3 mooring stations, Discovery 2010 CTD sites C2, C3 and C4 and as part of the BAS Long Term Monitoring Survey of the Western Core Box.

CTD data were collected at 24Hz and logged via the deck unit to a PC running Seasave, version 7.22.3 (Sea-Bird Electronics, Inc.). During the start of each deployment the CTD was stopped at 10m wire out for approximately 2 minutes to allow seawater-activated pumps to switch on and the sensors to equilibrate with ambient conditions. CTD was raised to as close to the surface as wave and swell conditions allowed and then lowered to within 10m of the seabed. Bottles were fired on the up cast, where the procedure was to stop the CTD winch, hold the package in situ for a few seconds to allow sensors to equilibrate, and then fire a bottle. When firing multiple bottles at the same depth approximately 30 seconds is given between each bottle to avoid loss of SBE35 readings. Bottle firing depths were determined by sampling requirements for Scientists onboard.

Originator's Processing

The CTD data were recorded using Seasave, version 7.22.3, and run through a SVP script which created four files (NNN is the CTD event number):

• JR15002_[NNN].hex binary data file
• JR15002_[NNN].XMLCON ascii configuration file with calibration information
• JR15002_[NNN].hdr ascii header file containing sensor information
• JR15002_[NNN].bl ascii file containing bottle fire information

The .hex file was converted from binary to ascii using the SBE Data Processing software Data Conversion module. The output was a file named jr15002ctd[NNN].cnv.

Sea-Bird Software was then used to apply standard processing routines to the .cnv file.

• Align CTD module aligned the parameter data in time, relative to pressure. This ensures that calculations of salinity, dissolved oxygen concentration, and other parameters are made using measurements from the same parcel of water.
• Wild edit module marked anomalies (or spikes) in the data by replacing the data value with badflag. The badflag value is documented in the input .cnv header. Wild Edit algorithm requires two passes through the data: the first pass obtains an accurate estimate of the data's true standard deviation, while the second pass replaces the appropriate data with badflag.
• Cell thermal mass module removed the conductivity cell thermal mass effects from the measured conductivity. This reads in the jr15002ctd[NNN].cnv file and re-derives the pressure and conductivity, taking into account the temperature of the pressure sensor and the action of pressure on the conductivity cell. The output is another ascii file, named as jr15002ctd[NNN]_ctm.cnv.

Further processing was applied by the originator using the following matlab scripts.

• Ctdread.m - reads in JR15002CTDnnn_awctm.cnv to matlab. Outputs JR15002ctdnnn.cal
• Editctd.m - reads in JR15002ctdnnn.cal. Manual edit of CTD file to remove start and end data when CTD out of water and any spikes. Outputs file JR15002ctdnnn.edt
• Interpol.m - reads in JR15002ctdnnn.edt. Interpolate any missing data. Output JR15002ctdnnn.int
• Salcalapp.m - reads in JR15002ctdnnn.int. Calculates density (sig0, sig2 sig4). Output JR15002ctdnnn.var
• Splitcast.m - reads in JR15002 ctdnnn.var. Splits up cast and down cast. Output JR15002ctdnnn.var.up and JR15002ctdnnn.var.dn.
• Fallrate.m - reads in JR15002ctdnnn.var.dn. Removes data from periods where CTD above a pressure it has already sampled. Output JR15002ctdnnn.var.dn
• Gridctd.m - reads in JR15002ctdnnn.var.dn. Grids data into 2dB depth intervals. Output JR15002ctdnnn.2db.mat. Note a 1dB file was also created on request from Richard Lampitt
• Fill-to-surf.m - reads in JR15002ctdnnn.2db.mat. Fills in surface values if CTD does not reach surface, user input to determine which ones. Output file JR15002ctdnnn.2db.mat
• Ctdplot.m - reads in JR15002ctdnnn.2db.mat files and creates overview plots
• Makebot - reads in JR15002ctdnnn.2db.mat. Extracts median and standard deviation of variables at the depth/time of each bottle firing. Output file JR15002botnnn.1st

All files detailed in this document have been submitted to BODC, including the final processed matlab .2db files.

Project Information

BAS Long Term Monitoring and Survey

Introduction

The Long Term Monitoring and Survey project (LTMS) has been running since the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) was created. This project is one of the BAS core projects, with several groups of scientists collecting various types of data e.g biological, geological, atmospheric, among others.

Data collection is achievable through a wide scope of instruments and platforms, e.g. the Antarctic research stations, autonomous instrument platforms deployed on or from BAS research ships, BAS aircrafts, satellite remote sensing and others.

Scientific Objectives

This project was implemented in order to measure change and variability in the Earth system. Its long term duration allows for the monitoring of processes that could be missed in shorter term studies and experiments. The data collected is also used to check and improve the reliability of models used to stimulate and predict the behavior of the Earth system.

The main objectives are:

• Topographic survey
• Geosciences survey
• Biological survey and monitoring
• Atmospheric and oceanographic monitoring

Data Availability

The data sets obtained through this project are available to the academic community.

Data Activity or Cruise Information

Cruise

Complete Cruise Metadata Report is available here

Fixed Station Information

Fixed Station Information

Western Core Box

The British Antarctic Survey undertakes cruises to determine krill biomass as part of the ongoing assessment of the status of the marine ecosystem in the region of South Georgia. This unique time series, known as the Western Core Box, which has taken place since 1996 is funded by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) British Antarctic Survey Long Term Monitoring programme.

The survey area is located in an on and off shelf survery area (figure.1), which comprises of an acoustic grid survey of 8 transects each of 80 km in length. Standard data collection includes underway biological echosounder acoustic transaects, CTD profiles, stratified and targetted RMT8 hauls of macrozooplankton and micronekton and a set of moorings which provide temporal coverage and a year round set of observations.

The specific aims of the WCB are:

• To quantify the interannual variability and long-term change in the mesoscale distribution and abundance of Antarctic krill.
• To quantify the the interannual variability and long-term change in the mesoscale distribution and abundance of other plankton/micronekton.
• To examine interannual varaibility in the context of environmental variability (climate variability).
• To examine prey availiability in the context of predator and fishery demand.

Figure 1. Western Core Box Survey Area (BAS, 2017).

A list of Western Core Box cruises are shown below.

References

British Antarctic Survey (2017). POETS-WCB. Available at: https://www.bas.ac.uk/project/poets-wcb/ [Accessed 2017].

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: Western Core Box

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.