Metadata Report for BODC Series Reference Number 592489

• 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

Teleost Pressure Recorder

This instrument was developed at I.O.S. Bidston. Each recorder consists of a Bell and Howell strain gauge or a Digiquartz pressure transducer. The strain gauge sensor uses a Bell and Howell type 4-306 transducer and operates as a phase shift oscillator whose frequency is controlled by the ratio of output to input voltage of the transducer Wheatstone bridge network. The quartz crystal pressure sensor consists of a convoluted bellows linked to a 40kHz quartz crystal resonator coupled by piezoelectric action to an electronic resonator.

The pressure and temperature recorder consists of an Aanderaa current meter type logger modified to accept input from a pressure sensor containing a Bell and Howell strain gauge or a Digiquartz pressure transducer and a platinum resistance thermometer.

The pressure and temperature transducers are mounted in the same heat sink for compatible data. The pressure sensors are mounted in a protective frame of dimensions 1.75m by 1.14m by 0.66m, attached to a ballast plate or frame. Teleost recorders are deployed as pop-up moorings and released from their ballast frames by firing a pyrotechnic release by acoustic command.

Project Information

North Sea Project

The North Sea Project (NSP) was the first Marine Sciences Community Research project of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). It evolved from a NERC review of shelf sea research, which identified the need for a concerted multidisciplinary study of circulation, transport and production.

The ultimate aim of the NERC North Sea Project was the development of a suite of prognostic water quality models to aid management of the North Sea. To progress towards water quality models, three intermediate objectives were pursued in parallel:

• Production of a 3-D transport model for any conservative passive constituent, incorporating improved representations of the necessary physics - hydrodynamics and dispersion;
• Identifying and quantifying non-conservative processes - sources and sinks determining the cycling and fate of individual constituents;
• Defining a complete seasonal cycle as a database for all the observational studies needed to formulate, drive and test models.

Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory hosted the project, which involved over 200 scientists and support staff from NERC and other Government funded laboratories, as well as seven universities and polytechnics.

The project ran from 1987 to 1992, with marine field data collection between April 1988 and October 1989. One shakedown (CH28) and fifteen survey cruises (Table 1), each lasting 12 days and following the same track, were repeated monthly. The track selected covered the summer-stratified waters of the north and the homogeneous waters in the Southern Bight in about equal lengths together with their separating frontal band from Flamborough head to Dogger Bank, the Friesian Islands and the German Bight. Mooring stations were maintained at six sites for the duration of the project.

Alternating with the survey cruises were process study cruises (Table 2), which investigated some particular aspect of the science of the North Sea. These included fronts (nearshore, circulation and mixing), sandwaves and sandbanks, plumes (Humber, Wash, Thames and Rhine), resuspension, air-sea exchange, primary productivity and blooms/chemistry.

In addition to the main data collection period, a series of cruises took place between October 1989 and October 1990 that followed up work done on previous cruises (Table 3). Process studies relating to blooms, plumes (Humber, Wash and Rhine), sandwaves and the flux of contaminants through the Dover Strait were carried out as well as two `survey' cruises.

The data collected during the observational phase of the North Sea Project comprised one of the most detailed sets of observations ever undertaken in any shallow shelf sea at that time.

Data Activity or Cruise Information

Data Activity

North Sea Project POLRIG#C40PS1

This rig was deployed as part of the NERC North Sea Project Process Study into Sandbanks at site PS1, in the Norfolk banks region of the southern North Sea.

The mooring comprised of a Teleost pressure recorder. This was mounted on a low profile frame positioned on the seabed. The instrument was located 0.5m above the sea floor.

Fixed Station Information

Fixed Station Information

NSP Sandbank Process Studies Moorings

The sandbank process studies carried out investigations into the influence of sandbanks on regional water flow patterns, including water and sand movement, in the Norfolk Banks region of the southern North Sea. It complimented a similar investigation into drag and sediment movement over sandwaves off the Dutch coast.

Moorings deployed included rigs with pressure sensors, a variety of current meters and STABLE (Sediment Transport and Boundary Layer Equipment).

The rigs deployed during this experiment lie within a box bounded by co-ordinates 53° 10.66' N, 002°4.07' E at the southwest corner and 53° 22.09' N, 002° 17.89' E at the northeast corner.

The deployment history for this station is summarised below:

Where

• WR = Water Level Recorder
• CM = Current Meter
• SM = STABLE

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: NSP Sandbanks Experiment

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

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