Resources

ARABESQUE Project Data Set - upper ocean biogeochemistry data collected in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in 1994

Data set information

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General  
Data holding centreBritish Oceanographic Data Centre
CountryUnited Kingdom  United Kingdom
Time periodFrom 27 August to 4 October 1994; and from 16 November to 19 December 1994
OngoingNo
Geographical area

A series of sections across the Arabian Sea and along the Gulf of Oman within the limits 8 to 27 degrees North and 56 to 67 degrees East

Observations 
Parameters

Ammonium and ammonia concentration parameters in water bodies; Transmittance and attenuance of the water column; Bacteria generic abundance in water bodies; Chlorophyll pigment concentrations in water bodies; Organosulphur and organoselenium species concentration parameters in water bodies; Dissolved organic carbon concentration in the water column; Dissolved oxygen parameters in the water column; Sedimentation flux quantification in the water column; Microzooplankton non taxonomy-related biomass expressed as carbon per unit volume of the water column; Microzooplankton generic abundance in water bodies; Microzooplankton grazing; Particulate total and organic nitrogen concentrations in the water column; Nitrate concentration parameters in the water column; Concentration of other hydrocarbons in the water column; Phytoplankton taxonomic abundance in water bodies; Partial pressure (pCO2) and fugacity (fCO2) of carbon dioxide in the water column; Phosphate concentration parameters in the water column; Primary production in the water column; Salinity of the water column; Plankton abundance per unit volume of the water column; Molecular biology parameters; Bacterial production in the water column; Urea concentration parameters in the water column; Phaeopigment concentrations in the water column; Phycobolin pigment concentrations in the water column; Concentration of inorganic sulphur species in the water column; Total dissolved inorganic carbon (TCO2) concentration in the water column; Visible waveband radiance and irradiance measurements in the atmosphere; Dissolved concentration parameters for other gases in sediment pore waters; Silicate concentration parameters in the water column; Microzooplankton taxonomic abundance in water bodies; Carotenoid and flavenoid pigment concentrations in water bodies; Phytoplankton taxonomic biomass in water bodies; Temperature of the water column

Instruments

Radiometers; discrete water samplers; particulates samplers; gas chromatographs; autoanalysers; high performance liquid chromatographs; titrators; bench particle sizers; CTD undulators; CTD; current profilers; shipboard incubators; in-situ incubators

Description 
Summary

The data set comprises hydrographic, biogeochemical and biological data, including measurements of temperature, salinity and attenuance, plus concentrations of parameters such as nutrients, pigments, urea, hydrocarbons, sedimentation flux, sulphur and dissolved carbon. Analyses of bacterial, zooplankton and phytoplankton communities were also undertaken. The oceanographic data were supplemented by measurements of surface meteorological parameters. Data were collected across three repeated sections: one along the Gulf of Oman; a section at 67° East from 8 to 14.5° North; and a major section from 8° North, 67 ° East to the coast of Oman. Other one-off sections were also traversed in the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman areas. Measurements were collected during two cruises: one between 27 August and the 4 October 1994 and the other between the 16 November and the 19 December 1994. Sections were covered by underway surface ocean measurements (one minute sampling of multiple parameters providing some 5 million measurements) complemented by a total of 21 CTD/water-bottle stations, 14 of which were repeated. ARABESQUE was organised by the Plymouth Marine Laboratory of NERC's Centre for Coastal and Marine Sciences and involved the University of Wales, Bangor; Queen's University of Belfast; University of East Anglia; University of Edinburgh; University of Newcastle; the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Canada; the Max Planck Institute for Limnology, Germany and the Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. Data management support for the project was provided by the British Oceanographic Data Centre. All data collected as part of the project were lodged with BODC who had responsibility for assembling, calibrating, quality controlling and fully documenting the data. BODC checked for instrument spikes or malfunction, values beyond the calibration range, unreasonable ratios of chemical constituents and unreasonable deviations from climatological means. Data were assembled into a relational database, complete with supporting documentation and a user manual. The full data set has been published by BODC on CD-ROM complete with user interface.

OriginatorsBedford Institute of Oceanography
Max Planck Institute for Limnology
Napier University School of Life Sciences
Newcastle University Department of Marine Science and Coastal Management
Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Queen's University Belfast, School of Biological Sciences
Sultan Qaboos University, Department of Fisheries Science and Technology
University of East Anglia, School of Environmental Sciences
University of Edinburgh, Department of Geology and Geophysics
University of Hamburg, Department of Chemistry
University of Wales, School of Ocean Sciences
References

Anon (1998) The scientific findings of this project were published in 1998 in a Special Issue of Deep Sea Research, Deep Sea Research - Special Issue

Data web sitehttps://www.bodc.ac.uk/resources/products/data/bodc_products/arabesque/
Availability 
OrganisationBritish Oceanographic Data Centre
AvailabilityLicence
ContactPolly Hadžiabdić (Head of the BODC Requests Team)
Address

British Oceanographic Data Centre
Joseph Proudman Building 6 Brownlow Street
Liverpool
Merseyside
L3 5DA
United Kingdom

Telephone+44 (0)782 512 0946
Emailenquiries@bodc.ac.uk
Administration 
Collating centreBritish Oceanographic Data Centre
Local identifier1048079
Global identifier192
Last revised2017-02-01