Metadata Report for BODC Series Reference Number 932509

• 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

PD023_08 Meteorology data quality notes

Solar radiation

From 09:00 to 16:00 30 July 2008 values are highly variable and regularly exceed the expected maximum seasonal value for this latitude. These points should be treated with caution.

Wind speed and direction

During screening of the wind channels at BODC it was noted that there were several occasions where values of zero in the relative wind speed and direction channels had been erroneously converted to true wind speed and direction values at Bangor University. These instances have been flagged suspect. The user should be aware that although wind data have been corrected for ship's movement, there are still residual effects present throughout the series.

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

Druck Resonant Pressure Transducer RPT 301

The Druck Resonant Pressure Transducer is a barometer with a multi-layer construction including a resonator and a pressure sensitive diaphragm micro-machined from one piece of silicon. The resonator is bonded to a second silicon wafer containing the drive and pick-up system under vacuum. This isolates the resonator from the pressure media, thereby ensuring that the accuracy is maintained regardless of the pressure media density. Pressure is measured from the frequency output of the sensor over a fixed number of cycles.

The RPT 301 is ideal for weather stations monitoring atmospheric trends, engine test cells or as a highly stable pressure reference transfer standard.

Specifications

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

Gill Instruments Windsonic Anemometer

The Gill Windsonic is a 2-axis ultrasonic wind sensor that monitors wind speed and direction using four transducers. The time taken for an ultrasonic pulse to travel from the North to the South transducers is measured and compared with the time for a pulse to travel from South to North. Travel times between the East and West transducers are similarly compared. The wind speed and direction are calculated from the differences in the times of flight along each axis. This calculation is independent of environmental factors such as temperature.

Specifications

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

PD23_08 Meteorology instrument details

Skye SKS 1110 Pyranometer

The SKS 1110 is a cosine-corrected pyranometer that uses a silicon photocell detector to measure solar energy over the spectral range 400 - 1100 nm. The maximum cosine error to 80° is typically 5%. The instrument is only suitable for measurements in natural light conditions.

Specifications

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

Vaisala Temperature and Relative Humidity HMP Sensors

A family of sensors and instruments (sensors plus integral displays or loggers) for the measurement of air temperature and relative humidity. All are based on a probe containing a patent (HUMICAP) capacitive thin polymer film capacitanece humidity sensor and a Pt100 platinum resistance thermometer. The probes are available with a wide range of packaging, cabling and interface options all of which have designations of the form HMPnn or HMPnnn such as HMP45 and HMP230. Vaisala sensors are incorporated into weather stations and marketed by Campbell Scientific.

All versions operate at up to 100% humidity. Operating temperature ranges vary between models, allowing users to select the version best suited to their requirements.

Further details can be found in the manufacturer's specification sheets for the HMP 45 series, HMP 70 series and HMP 230 series.

Prince Madog Cruise PD23_08 Meteorology Series

Meteorology Processing Notes

• Solar radiation

  The instrument was mounted on the front mast. The logged data received at BODC were examined visually on a graphics workstation and any suspect values flagged.

• Barometric pressure

  The logged data received at BODC were examined visually on a graphics workstation and any suspect values flagged. No correction has been applied to account for instrument height above sea level.

• Air temperature

  The logged data received at BODC were examined visually on a graphics workstation and any suspect values flagged.

• Relative humidity

  The logged data received at BODC were examined visually on a graphics workstation and any suspect values flagged.

• Wind speed and direction

  The anemometer was mounted on the front mast, with zero pointing towards the bow. Relative wind speed and direction were corrected to true wind speed and direction by Bangor University. The data were examined visually on a graphics workstation. Comparative screening checks were made to ascertain any residual effects of ship's velocity and heading on the wind data. Where obvious, any residual effects were flagged suspect.

Prince Madog Cruise PD23_08 Sea Surface Hydrography, Meteorology and Navigation Series

Data acquisition

Surface hydrographic (ship's intake 3 m below surface), meteorology measurements and navigation data, including ship heading and bathymetric depth were time stamped and logged to a central logging system. The data underwent conversion from raw counts into engineering units and were transferred to BODC, at 60 second resolution, for further processing.

BODC Underway Data Processing Procedures

All underway sea surface hydrography, meteorology and ship's navigation data were merged into a common file and calibrations applied to channels as appropriate.

The QXF file then underwent a further step. This involved using Matlab transfer 378 to split the underway QXF file into three separate QXF files. One contained data for sea surface hydrography, one for meteorological data and the final QXF file held the navigation data.

Each data channel was visually inspected on a graphics workstation and any spikes or periods of dubious data were flagged suspect. The capabilities of the workstation screening software allows all possible comparative screening checks between channels (e.g. to ensure corrected wind data have not been influenced by changes in ship's heading). The system also has the facility of simultaneously displaying the data and the ship's position on a map to enable data screening to take oceanographic climatology into account.

Project Information

Oceans 2025 Theme 10

Oceans 2025 is a strategic marine science programme, bringing marine researchers together to increase people's knowledge of the marine environment so that they are better able to protect it for future generations.

Theme 10: Integration of Sustained Observations in the Marine Environment spans all marine domains from the sea-shore to the global ocean, providing data and knowledge on a wide range of ecosystem properties and processes (from ocean circulation to biodiversity) that are critical to understanding Earth system behaviour and identifying change. They have been developed not merely to provide long-term data sets, but to capture extreme or episodic events, and play a key role in the initialisation and validation of models. Many of these SOs will be integrated into the newly developing UK Marine Monitoring Strategy - evolving from the Defra reports Safeguarding our Seas (2002) and Charting Progress (2005), thus contributing to the underpinning knowledge for national marine stewardship. They will also contribute to the UK GOOS Strategic Plan (IACMST, 2006) and the Global Marine Assessment.

Weblink: http://www.oceans2025.org/

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.

Oceans 2025 Theme 10, Sustained Observation Activity 11: Liverpool Bay and Irish Sea Coastal Observatory

Sustained, systematic observations of the ocean and continental shelf seas at appropriate time and space scales allied to numerical models are key to understanding and prediction. In shelf seas these observations address issues as fundamental as 'what is the capacity of shelf seas to absorb change?' encompassing the impacts of climate change, biological productivity and diversity, sustainable management, pollution and public health, safety at sea and extreme events. Advancing understanding of coastal processes to use and manage these resources better is challenging; important controlling processes occur over a broad range of spatial and temporal scales which cannot be simultaneously studied solely with satellite or ship-based platforms.

Considerable effort has been spent by the Proudman Oceangraphic Laboratory (POL) in the years 2001 - 2006 in setting up an integrated observational and now-cast modelling system in Liverpool Bay (see Figure), with the recent POL review stating the observatory was seen as a leader in its field and a unique 'selling' point of the laboratory. Cost benefit analysis (IACMST, 2004) shows that benefits really start to accrue after 10 years. In 2007 - 2012 exploitation of (i) the time series being acquired, (ii) the model-data synthesis and (iii) the increasingly available quantities of real-time data (e.g. river flows) can be carried out through Sustained Observation Activity (SO) 11, to provide an integrated assessment and short term forecasts of the coastal ocean state.

Overall Aims and Purpose of SO 11

• To continue and enlarge the scope of the existing coastal observatory in Liverpool Bay to routinely monitor the northern Irish Sea
• To develop the synthesis of measurements and models in the coastal ocean to optimize measurement arrays and forecast products. Driving forward shelf seas' operational oceanography with the direct objective of improving the national forecasting capability, expressed through links to the National Centre for Ocean Forecasting (NCOF)
• To exploit the long time-series of observations and model outputs to: a) identify the roles of climate and anthropogenic inputs on the coastal ocean's physical and biological functioning (including impacts of nutrient discharges, offshore renewable energy installations and fishing activity) taking into consideration the importance of events versus mean storms / waves, river discharge / variable salinity stratification / horizontal gradients; b) predict the impacts of climate change scenarios; and c) provide new insights to Irish Sea dynamics for variables either with seasonal cycles and interannual variability, or which show weak or no seasonal cycles
• To provide and maintain a 'laboratory' within which a variety of observational and model experiments can be undertaken (Oceans 2025 Themes 3, 6, 8, 9), including capture of extreme events
• Demonstrate the value of an integrated approach in assessment and forecasting
• Demonstrate the coastal observatory as a tool for marine management strategies through collaboration with the Environment Agency (EA), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Joint Nature Conservation Commmittee (JNCC), English Nature (EN), Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), and Local Authorities, providing management information pertinent to policy (e.g. Water Framework Directive)

Measurement and Modelling Activities

• East Mooring Site: Bottom frame with full suite of physical measurements (high frequency Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP), conductivity, temperature, turbidity and fluorescence), a Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) directional wavebuoy, and a CEFAS Smartbuoy collecting surface properties including salinity, temperature, turbidity, nutrients, irradiance and chlorophyll. All transmit data in real-time via Orbcomm. The Smartbuoy also collects daily water samples.
• West Mooring Site: Bottom frame with full suite of physical measurements (high frequency ADCP, conductivity, temperature, turbidity and fluorescence), CEFAS Smartbuoy.
• Spatial Survey: Four - six week intervals (determined by biofouling of optical sensors). Spatial surveys comprise of vertical profiles of CTD, suspended particulate material (SPM), some bed sediment sampling and surface and bed nutrients, phytoplankton, zooplankton.
• Ferry: The Birkenhead - Belfast ferry samples near surface (5 m depth) temperature, salinity, turbidity, chlorophyll, with data transmitted by Orbcomm. The route is scientifically varied passing through six completely different hydrodynamic regions, which significantly impact on their ecological function.
• Tide gauges: Real-time data are obtained from tide gauges operated by Mersey Docks and Harbour Company (MDHC) and the UK tide gauge network.
• Satellite imagery: Weekly composite satellite data, Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) sea surface temperature (SST) and ocean colour (chlorophyll and suspended sediment), are provided by the Remote Sensing Data Analysis Service (RSDAS) based at Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML).
• HF radar: A phased array HF radar system (a 12-16MHz WERA HF radar) measuring surface currents and waves with maximum range 75km at a resolution of 4km for sea surface currents and for 2-D wave spectra.
• Meteorology station: With web camera, located on Hilbre Island at the mouth of the Dee Estuary
• Operational models: The Coastal Observatory uses Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal Ocean Modelling System (POLCOMS), which is part of Oceans 2025 Theme 9.

More detailed information on this Work Package is available at pages 32 - 35 of the official Oceans 2025 Theme 10 document: Oceans 2025 Theme 10

Weblink: http://www.oceans2025.org/

References:

IACMST., 2004. The Economics of Sustained Marine Measurements. IACMST Information Document, N0.11, Southampton: IACMST, 96 pp

Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal Observatory

The Coastal Observatory was established by Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory as a coastal zone real time observing and monitoring system. The main objective is to understand a coastal sea's response both to natural forcing and to the consequences of human activity. Near real-time measurements will be integrated with coupled models into a pre-operational coastal prediction system whose results will be displayed on the World Wide Web.

The Observatory is expected to grow and evolve as resources and technology allow, all the while building up long time series. A site selection pilot study was carried out in September 2001 and the Observatory became operational in August 2002.

The site is located in Liverpool Bay and is subject to typical coastal sea processes, with strong tides, occasional large storm surges and waves, freshwater input, stable and unstable stratification, high suspended sediment concentration and biogeochemical interaction. Measurements and monitoring will focus on the impacts of storms, variations in river discharge (especially the Mersey), seasonality and blooms in Liverpool Bay.

A variety of methods will be used to obtain measurements, including:

1. Moored instruments for in situ time series of currents, temperature and salinity profiles, and surface waves and meteorology. It is hoped that turbidity and chlorophyll measurements will be made at another site as the Observatory progresses;
2. The Cefas Smartbuoy for surface properties such as nutrients and chlorophyll, starting late 2002;
3. R.V. Prince Madog to carry out spatial surveys and service moorings;
4. Instrumented ferries for near surface temperature, salinity, turbidity, chlorophyll and nutrients. The first route will be Liverpool to Douglas, Isle of Man, starting late 2002;
5. Drifters for surface currents and properties such as temperature and salinity, starting in 2004;
6. Tide gauges, with sensors for meteorology, waves, temperature and salinity, where appropriate;
7. Meteorological data from Bidston Observatory and Hilbre Island, HF radar and tide gauge sites;
8. Shore-based HF radar measuring waves and surface currents out to a range of 50 km, starting in 2003;
9. Satellite data, with infrared for sea surface temperature and visible for chlorophyll and suspended sediment.

The partners currently involved with the project are listed below:

• Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory
• British Oceanographic Data Centre
• UK Meteorological Office
• Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science
• Environment Agency
• Liverpool University and Port Erin Marine Laboratory
• Bangor University School of Ocean Sciences
• National Oceanography Centre Southampton
• Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland

A summary of Coastal Observatory cruises to date on R.V. Prince Madog is given in the table below:

Data Activity or Cruise Information

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: