Metadata Report for BODC Series Reference Number 2148897

• 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

PerkinElmer Optima 4300 DV ICP-OES

A laboratory Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES) designed for elemental analysis. The optical (also known as atomic) emission spectrometer (OES) determines the elemental composition of a sample through the amount of light emitted from atoms or ions at specific wavelengths. The atomization source is an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) which is maintained by the interaction of radio frequency (RF) energy (generated by a solid-state RF generator), a horizontally mounted quartz torch, and ionized argon gas. Standards and samples are acquired with the aid of an autosampler. The sample solution is injected as an aerosol into the plasma via a nebuliser and spray chamber using the integral peristaltic pump. Light from the plasma and the various atomic emissions therein pass through duel view (DV) windows, 'viewing' the plasma axially (end-on) and radially (side-on), into the thermally stabilised, argon-purged optical compartment housing an Echelle polychromator to separate the light into its component wavelengths. The polychromator comprises diffraction gratings, mirrors, lenses and visible and ultra-violet detector sets, each comprising arrays of segmented-array charge-coupled device (SCD) detectors and allows simultaneous quantification of atomic emissions in the plasma.

The Optima 4300 model is designed with two solid-state dectors to maximise light thoughput and resolution at all wavelengths. It can determine ultra trace and percentage concentration levels in a sample in the same run automatically, and has a wavelength range of 165-782 nm due to a 60 ° fused-quartz prism added as the cross disperser for the visible region (403 - 782 nm). The measured resolution of the Optima 4000 models is 0.006 nm at 200 nm, and the 80 by 160 mm Echelle grating has 79 lines per mm and a blaze angle of 63.4 °.

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.

RRS Discovery cruise D341 Particulate concentrations (Organic Carbon, Organic Nitrogen, Calcium and Silicate) from CTD bottles

Originator's Protocol for Data Acquisition and Analysis

Samples for particulate concentration analysis were collected from CTD casts profiled around the Porcupine Abyssal Plain (PAP) site. Niskin bottles were fired at predetermined depths and samples for several parameters were collected, including those for particulate nutrients (Carbon, Nitrogen, Calcium and Silica).

Data collected from 7 CTD casts were sent in a spreadsheet with accompanying metadata (Station ID, Date/time, Latitude, Longitude, CTD bottle number and bottle depth) and quality flags.

The analysis methodology followed by the originator was:

• Particulate Organic Carbon and Nitrogen: 1.5 to 2 l of sampled water were filtered through a 0.8 µm, 25 mm diameter pre-combusted GF/F filters which were placed in Petri dishes at-20°C, acid fumed and analysed using an elemental analyser
• Particulate Calcium: 1 to 1.5 l of sampled water were filtered through 0.8 µm polycarbonate membrane filters , rinsed with slightly alkaline (pH 9) de-ionised water and frozen at-20°C prior to analysis, where they were extracted in 2% nitric acid and analysed using Inductively Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry
• Biogenic Silica: 1 to 1.5 l of sampled water were filtered through 0.8 µm polycarbonate filters, digested using 0.2 M sodium hydroxide for four hours at 80°C and neutralised with 0.1 M hydrochloric acid. Silicate concentrations were determined using an autoanalyser.

References Cited

Poulton A.J., Sanders R., Holligan P.M., Stinchcombe M.C., Adey T.R., Brown L. and Chamberlain K., 2006. Phytoplankton mineralization in the tropical and subtropical Atlantic Ocean. Global Biogheochemical Cycles, 20 (4), GB4002.

Instrumentation Description

Water samples were collected from 20 l Niskin bottles mounted on a carousel included in the CTD frame.

BODC Data Processing Procedures

Data were received at BODC in a spreadsheet and originator's parameters were matched against BODC vocabulary dictionary and unit conversions applied where appropriate. Originator's quality flags were kept as they were identical to the ones used at BODC.

The table below presents the matching between the originator's parameters and BODC codes for each variable:

Data Quality Report

A few samples were flagged by the originator as having improbable values (L) and were kept in the BODC database. Null values were also assigned N flags.

Project Information

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

Data Activity

BODC Sample Metadata Report for D341_CTD_16580

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: D341_CTD_16580

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

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