Liverpool Bay, Irish Sea

Horizontal spatial co-ordinates; Ammonium and ammonia concentration parameters in water bodies; Air pressure; Air temperature; Atmospheric humidity; Electrical conductivity of the water column; Chlorophyll pigment concentrations in water bodies; Dissolved oxygen parameters in the water column; Wind strength and direction; Raw fluorometer output; Wave direction; Raw current meter output parameters; Vertical velocity of the water column (currents); Sediment grain size parameters; Moored instrument depth; Dissolved metal concentrations in the water column; Nitrate concentration parameters in the water column; Phosphate concentration parameters in the water column; Salinity of the water column; Ocean colour and earth-leaving visible waveband spectral radiation; Radar backscatter; Horizontal velocity of the water column (currents); Side-scan sonar; Raw suspended particulate material concentration sensor output; Spectral wave data parameters; Wave height and period statistics; Zooplankton taxonomy-related abundance per unit volume of the water column; Phaeopigment concentrations in the water column; Concentration of suspended particulate material in the water column; Nitrite concentration parameters in the water column; Horizontal platform movement; Acoustic backscatter in the water column; Sea level; Solar Radiation; Alkalinity, acidity and pH of the water column; Platform or instrument orientation; Concentration of organic matter in water bodies; Visible waveband radiance and irradiance measurements in the water column; Transmittance and attenuance of the water column; Raw in-situ nutrient analyser output; Silicate concentration parameters in the water column; Raw light meter output; Bathymetry and Elevation; Temperature of the water column

Anemometers; meteorological packages; sea level recorders; fluorometers; current meters; thermosalinographs; water temperature sensor; single-beam echosounders; nutrient analysers; plankton nets; discrete water samplers; continuous water samplers; salinity sensor; sediment grabs; sieves and filters; autoanalysers; Differential Global Positioning System receivers; transmissometers; CTD; water body temperature sensor; surface current radars; current profilers; in-situ particle sizers; sidescan sonars; dissolved gas sensors; wave recorders

The data set comprises measurement of physical and biogeochemical oceanographic parameters and complementary meteorology collected during the Liverpool Bay/Irish Sea Coastal Observatory initiative. It includes measurements from across the Liverpool Bay and Irish Sea area with data collection spanning a decade from 2001 to 2011. It incorporates regular hydrographic survey cruises (typically 8 - 10 per year) undertaken by the RV Prince Madog, data collected via instrumented ferries, time series data from oceanographic moorings and at two meteorological stations, namely: Bidston Observatory (up to 2004) and Hilbre Island (2004 - 2011), and a shore-based high-frequency (HF) radar measuring waves and surface currents out to a range of 50km. The hydrographic surveys include conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) casts with attached auxiliary sensors and data collected via the ships' underway monitoring system. Oceanographic parameters include temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, attenuance, turbidity, fluorescence, chlorophyll, nutrients, irradiance, waves and currents and meteorological parameters include air temperature, air pressure, wind velocities, humidity, precipitation and atmospheric irradiance. The instrumented ferries also incorporated an underway monitoring system for sea surface properties. The Observatory integrated (near) real-time measurements with the POLCOMS (Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal Ocean Modelling System) models. The objective was to understand a coastal sea's response both to natural forcing and to the consequences of human activity. The foci were the impact of storms, variations in river discharge (especially the Mersey), seasonality, and blooms in Liverpool Bay. The Observatory was coordinated at the National Oceanography Centre (previously the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, POL) in Liverpool and data are managed by British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC). The data set is supplemented by infra-red (for sea surface temperature) and visible (for chlorophyll and suspended sediment) satellite data. These data are held at the NERC Earth Observation Data Centre /Remote Sensing Data Analysis Service (NEODC/RSDAS).

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