Metadata Report for BODC Series Reference Number 2122089

• 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

Becton Dickinson FACSort Flow Cytometer

The Becton Dickinson FACSort Flow Cytometer is a benchtop, five-detector, flow cytometer that is designed to analyse cells as they travel, one by one, in a moving fluid stream, through a focused, air-cooled, argon-ion laser beam. Samples are introduced through a stainless steel injection tube equipped with an outer droplet containment sleeve. As the cell passes through the laser, a mechanical catcher tube located in the upper portion of the flow cell, moves in and out of the sample stream to collect desired cells at a rate of up to 300 per second. The physical characteristics of the cells, which pertain to how the cell scatters the laser light and emits fluorescence are then analysed. This provides information about the cell's size, internal complexity and relative fluorescence intensity. Up to five parameters can be measured at once by the FACSort including forward light scatter, side light scatter, three fluorescence parameters, pulse height and width of each fluorescence parameter. FACSort can be operated with any Macintosh computer, where the information is output to. The FACSort system includes CELLQuest software for acquisition and analysis and FACSComp software for daily setup and quality control.

Droplet formation of sheath fluid as it backflows from the injection tube is eliminated by the use of the containment sleeve in conjunction with a vacuum pump. Fluid controls allow the user to select the fluidics mode and sample flow rate. As a mechanical device is used to sort cells, no side streams are formed so aerosol formation is completely eliminated. The laser alignment and stream velocity are fixed so the time it takes for desired cells to reach the catcher tube is constant so no setup calculations are required. As no optical alignment is required, daily setup can be performed quickly and consistently. Between one and three cell collection tubes can be installed and the instrument will automatically determine the maximum volume of sample to collect.

Specifications

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

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.

Flow Cytometry CTD bottle data for UK SOLAS cruise Discovery D325 (INSPIRE)

Originator's Data Acquisition and Analysis

Fresh seawater samples were collected from CTD casts into clean 250 mL polycarbonate bottles from both the stainless steel (20 x 24 L bottles) and titanium (20 x 10 L bottles) CTD/Rossette systems. Samples were stored in a refrigerator until analysed (less than 1 hour). 3 mL samples were used for immediate flow cytometric analysis to characterise and enumerate prochlorophytes, cyanobacteria, pico-eukaryotes and nanophytoplankton based on their light scattering and fluorescence properties. Analysis was conducted using a Becton Dickinson FACSort flow cytometer.

BODC Data Processing Procedures

Data were received by BODC in Microsoft Excel spreadsheet format; one file containing all flow cytometry data collected from CTD bottles throughout the cruise (SolasInspireAFCBODC.xls). The following metadata fields were also included in the spreadsheet: date, julian day, time on deck GMT, site, trophic type, cast, lat N, long W, sample, niskin bottle # and depth.

Parameter codes defined in the BODC parameter dictionary were mapped to the variables as follows:

The data were then banked according to BODC standard procedures for sample data. Once tagged with the appropriate parameter code and, if necessary, converted to BODC standard unit for that parameter, the data are loaded into BODC Samples Database. In this process, sample metadata are checked against information held in the database. Discrepancies are investigated and, when necessary cross-checked with the data originator prior to correction.

Data Quality Report

No advice concerning the data quality was received by BODC from the originator. During BODC processing no standout data points were noted.

Project Information

UK Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study

The UK Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study (UK SOLAS) is the UK's contribution to the international SOLAS programme.

UK SOLAS formed interdisciplinary teams to address three primary aims

• To determine the mechanisms controlling rates of chemical transfer and improve estimates of chemical exchanges
• To evaluate the impact of these exchanges on the biogeochemistry of the surface ocean and lower atmosphere and on feedbacks between the ocean and atmosphere
• To quantify the impacts of these boundary layer processes on the global climate system

UK SOLAS started in 2003, to run for seven years. The programme was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council.

Funded projects

In total, 19 projects have been funded by UK SOLAS, over four funding rounds.

UK SOLAS has also supported ten tied studentships, and two CASE studentships.

Fieldwork

UK SOLAS fieldwork has included eight dedicated research cruises in the North Atlantic Ocean. Continuous measurements were made aboard aboard the Norwegian weather ship, Polarfront, until her decommission in 2009. Time series have been established at the SOLAS Cape Verde Observatory, and at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory L4 station. Experiments have taken place at the Bergen mesocosm facility.

A series of collaborative aircraft campaigns have added complementary atmospheric data. These campaigns were funded by UK SOLAS, African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (AMMA-UK), Dust and Biomass Experiment (DABEX) and the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM).

Weblink: http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/programmes/solas/

Data Activity or Cruise Information

Data Activity

BODC Sample Metadata Report for D325_CTD_CTD_C039_TIT

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

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:

Appendix 1: D325_CTD_CTD_C039_TIT

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.