Resources

NERC Biogeochemical Ocean Flux Study (BOFS) North Atlantic Data Set (1989-1991)

Data set information

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General  
Data holding centreBritish Oceanographic Data Centre
CountryUnited Kingdom  United Kingdom
Time periodFrom 8 May 1989 to 28 July 1991
OngoingNo
Geographical area

N.E. Atlantic (three areas: 47-60° N on 20° W meridian; Cape Verde Islands to 47degN; and south of Iceland).

Observations 
Parameters

Ammonium and ammonia concentration parameters in water bodies; Atmospheric particulates; Transmittance and attenuance of the water column; Bacteria environmental parameters; Bacteria generic abundance in water bodies; Air pressure; Air temperature; Atmospheric humidity; Particulate total and organic carbon concentrations in the water column; Chlorophyll pigment concentrations in water bodies; Other halocarbon 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; Wind strength and direction; Raw fluorometer output; Zooplankton dry weight biomass per unit volume of the water column; Dissolved metal concentrations in the water column; Particulate metal concentrations in the water column; Microzooplankton non taxonomy-related biomass expressed as carbon per unit volume of the water column; Microzooplankton grazing; Particulate total and organic nitrogen concentrations in the water column; Nitrate concentration parameters in the water column; Phytoplankton taxonomic abundance in water bodies; Phosphate concentration parameters in the water column; Primary production in the water column; Salinity of the water column; Horizontal velocity of the water column (currents); Precipitation chemistry; Nutrient fluxes between the bed and the water column; Metal fluxes between the bed and the water column; Bacterial production in the water column; Wave height and period statistics; Zooplankton taxonomy-related abundance per unit volume of the water column; Zooplankton non taxonomy-related biomass expressed as carbon per unit volume of the water column; Zooplankton non taxonomy-related biomass expressed as nitrogen 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; Sea level; Solar Radiation; Visible waveband radiance and irradiance measurements in the atmosphere; New production in water bodies; Silicate concentration parameters in the water column; Bathymetry and Elevation; Temperature of the water column; Zooplankton feeding

Instruments

Meteorological packages; sea level recorders; fluorometers; thermosalinographs; plankton nets; discrete water samplers; particulates samplers; sediment traps; salinity sensor; sediment grabs; gas chromatographs; autoanalysers; optical microscopes; titrators; spectrophotometers; transmissometers; current profilers; thermistor chains; precipitation samplers; dissolved gas sensors; wave recorders

Description 
Summary

The dataset contains physical, biological and chemical oceanographic measurements, and meteorological data. Hydrographic measurements include temperature, salinity, current velocities, attenuance, dissolved oxygen and fluorescence, while water samples were analysed for concentrations of nutrients, pigments, suspended particulates, metals and halocarbons. Samples were also collected for phytoplankton and zooplankton analyses, while results from production experiments are also included in the data set. These oceanographic data are supplemented by surface meteorological measurements. The data were collected at 357 sites in the NE Atlantic, 308 of which are from cruises centering on 20 W, 47 to 60 N, 16 from the Cape Verde Islands and 33 in a coccolithophore bloom just south of Iceland. Measurements were taken from 3 cruises in 1989, 6 cruises in 1990 and 2 cruises in 1991. The data were collected via (i) underway sampling (SeaSoar Undulating Oceanographic Recorder (UOR), hull-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP), meteorology and surface ocean parameters) of which there are 793430 records at 30 second intervals from 11 cruises and (ii) discrete sampling (conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) and expendable bathythermograph (XBT) casts, bottle stations, net hauls, productivity incubations, stand alone pump (SAP) and sediment trap deployments, cores) of which there are 2215 deployments/experiments. The aim of the Biogeochemical Ocean Flux Study (BOFS) Community Research Project was to study the role of oceans in the global cycling of carbon. The data were collected and supplied by UK participants in the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS). The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) had responsibility for calibrating, processing, quality controlling and documenting the data and assembling the final data set. The underway data are stored as time series for each cruise merged with the navigation data. The data are fully quality controlled. Checks were made for instrument malfunction, fouling, constant values, spikes, spurious values, calibration errors and baseline corrections. The discrete data are stored in a relational database (Oracle RDBMS), mainly as vertical profiles and are uniquely identified by a combination of deployment number and depth.

OriginatorsDunstaffnage Marine Laboratory
Institute of Oceanographic Sciences Deacon Laboratory
Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Polytechnic South West Institute of Marine Studies
Queen's University Belfast, School of Biological Sciences
Royal Holloway and Bedford College, University of London, School of Biological Sciences
Scottish Universities Research Reactor Centre
University of Bristol, School of Chemistry
University of Cambridge Department of Earth Sciences
University of East Anglia, School of Environmental Sciences
University of Edinburgh, Department of Geology and Geophysics
University of Liverpool, Department of Oceanography
University of Southampton Department of Oceanography
University of Wales, School of Ocean Sciences
References

Lowry, R.K., Machin, P. and Cramer, R.N (1994) Users Guide to the BOFS North Atlantic Data Set., ; Savidge, G., Turner, D.R., Burkhill, P.H., Watson, A.J., Angel, M.V., Pingree, R.D., Leach, H and Richards, K.J. (1992) The BOFS 1990 Spring Bloom Experiment: temporal evolution and spatial variability of the hydrographic field., Progress in Oceanography Vol. 29(3): 235-281.

Data web sitehttps://www.bodc.ac.uk/resources/products/data/bodc_products/bofs/
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 identifier1048002
Global identifier147
Last revised2017-02-01