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Projects

  • Argo - International programme involving a global array of 3000 free-drifting profiling floats measuring the temperature and salinity of the upper 2000m of the ocean in or near real time.
  • Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) - Biological, chemical and physical oceanographic research during the annual return passage of the RRS James Clark Ross from the UK to the Falkland Islands in September and from the Falklands to the UK in May. During the project's first phase (1995 to 1999), twelve cruises took place, providing a coherent set of repeated measurements over ocean basin scales. A second phase included six cruises between 2002 and 2005. These sampled further into the centre of the North and South Atlantic Ocean and along the north-west coast of Africa.
  • Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) - BODC site - BODC is responsible for managing data sets arising from the AMT programme, assembling quality-controlled data from AMT cruises into a relational database, so that spatial and temporal links between multiple parameters are maintained.
  • Baltic Earth - Project aiming to improve Earth System understanding in the Baltic Sea region as the basis for science-based management in the face of climatic, environmental and human impact in the region.
  • Cetacean Offshore Distribution and Abundance in the European Atlantic (CODA) - Cetacean monitoring programme consisting of cetacean sightings from shipboard surveys and passive acoustic recordings from towed hydrophone arrays. Data were collected across the Celtic Sea, Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic continental margin of the UK, Ireland, France and Spain in July 2007. The objective is to repeat surveys approximately every decade, thereby providing a long-term monitoring programme for cetacean species in the region.
  • Coriolis - A French operational oceanography project, with the objective of developing continuous, automatic and permanent observation networks and the mapping of properties such as temperature and ocean circulation.
  • Diatoms and Copepods In Dabob Bay - University of Washington School of Oceanography project examining the link between diatoms and copepods in the marine ecosystem.
  • Estimating the Circulation & Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) - A consortium formed by scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) with the goal of sustained production and evaluation of three-dimensional estimates of the global state of the ocean in near-real time in support of programs such as GODAE and CLIVAR.
  • Eurofleets+ - Aims to construct a pan-European distributed research fleet infrastructure by coordinating access to European marine research vessels and equipment.
  • European Seas Observatory NETwork (ESONET) - Coordinated by IFREMER and co-funded by the EU. It aims to promote the implementation and management of a network of long-term multidisciplinary ocean observatories in deep waters around Europe.
  • Eurosion - A European initiative for sustainable coastal erosion management, commissioned by the General Directorate Environment of the European Commission.
  • General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) - Authoritative, publicly-available bathymetry of the world's oceans. GEBCO operates under the joint auspices of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO).
  • Geo-Seas - Setting up a single portal giving access to datasets from 26 marine geological and geophysical data centres, located in 17 European maritime countries.
  • Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) - GOOS is a permanent global system for observations, modelling and analysis of marine and ocean variables needed to support operational ocean services worldwide.
  • Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) - GRACE maps the Earth's gravity fields by making accurate measurements of the distance between two satellites using GPS and a microwave ranging system. It will provide scientists from all over the world with an efficient and cost-effective way to map the Earth's gravity with unprecedented accuracy. The results from this mission will yield crucial information about the distribution and flow of mass within the Earth and its oceans and surroundings.
  • Interactive Oceans - Project to establish a regional-scale ocean observatory in the northeast Pacific Ocean. A 3000 km network of fibre optic/power cables encircling and crossing the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate. The project office is located at the University of Washington in Seattle.
  • International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean (IBCAO) - Aims to develop a digital database containing all available bathymetric data north of 64°N, for use by mapmakers, researchers, institutions and others whose work requires a detailed and accurate knowledge of the depth and shape of the Arctic seabed.
  • Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) - An international programme to assess and understand the processes controlling fluxes of carbon between the atmosphere, surface ocean and ocean interior, and their sensitivity to climate changes. Finished in 2003, but similar work now carried out by IMBER and SOLAS.
  • MARine PRODuctivity (MARPROD) - Aimed to develop coupled modelling and observational systems for the pelagic ecosystem, with emphasis on physical factors affecting zooplankton population dynamics. MARPROD was a major UK contribution to the international Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics project (GLOBEC).
  • MAss Transfer and Ecosystem Response (MTP II-MATER) - The overall objective is to study and to quantify the triggering and controlling mechanisms of mass and energy transfer between the different compartments in contrasting trophic environments (from eutrophic to oligotrophic) of the Mediterranean Sea and to investigate the ecosystem response.
  • Marine Mammals Exploring the Ocean Pole to Pole (MEOP) - The MEOP research consortium deploys custom-built Conductivity-Temperature-Depth Satellite Relay Data Loggers (CTD-SRDLs) on deep-diving marine mammals in polar regions. The project aims to explore the animals' movements, behaviour and habitat usage, and to collect high-precision oceanographic data from logistically difficult areas of ocean. To date, tags have been deployed on hooded seals in the Arctic and on crabeater, Weddell and southern elephant seals in the Antarctic.
  • Mediterranean Hydrographic Atlas (MEDATLAS II) - Project to rescue, safeguard and make available a comprehensive data set of oceanographic parameters collected in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, through a wide co-operation of the Mediterranean and Black Sea countries.
  • NOAA Earth-Ocean Interactions - NOAA programme discovering, measuring, understanding, and predicting ecological impacts of natural chemical, biological, and geological processes between the solid Earth and Ocean.
  • Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) - ODP was funded by the US National Science Foundation and 22 international partners and conducted basic research into the history of the ocean basins and the overall nature of the crust beneath the ocean floor.
  • Ocean Margin EXchange (OMEX) - OMEX was a large-scale multidisciplinary project bringing together scientists throughout Europe. This major oceanographic initiative studied the biogeochemical fluxes and processes occurring along the European continental shelf.
  • PROcesses of Vertical Exchange in Shelf Seas (PROVESS) - An interdisciplinary study of vertical fluxes of properties through the water column and the surface and bottom boundaries based on the integrated application of new measuring techniques, new advances in turbulence theory and new models.
  • Rapid Climate Change (RAPID) - A six-year (2001-2007) Natural Environment Research Council programme. Aimed to improve our ability to quantify the probability and magnitude of future rapid change in climate, with a main (but not exclusive) focus on the role of the Atlantic Ocean's Thermohaline Circulation.
  • Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) - Focussed on promoting international cooperation in planning and conducting oceanographic research, and solving methodological and conceptual problems that hinder research. Scientists from thirty-six SCOR member nations participate in working groups and steering committees.
  • Seasearch - UK project for volunteer sports divers who have an interest in what they're seeing under water, want to learn more and want to help protect the marine environment. The main aim is to map out the various types of sea bed found in the British Isles near-shore zone.
  • SenseOCEAN - Project that draws together world leading marine sensor developers to create a highly integrated multifunction and cost-effective in situ marine biogeochemical sensor system.
  • Small Cetaceans in the European Atlantic and North Sea II (SCANS-II) - Cetacean monitoring programme consisting of cetacean sightings from shipboard and aerial surveys, and passive acoustic recordings from towed hydrophone arrays. Data were collected across the North Sea, western Baltic Sea, Celtic Sea, Irish Sea, Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic continental margin of the UK, Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal in July 2005. SCANS-II succeeded the original SCANS survey of July 1994. The objective is to repeat surveys approximately every decade, thereby providing a long-term monitoring programme for cetacean species in the region.
  • Southern Elephant Seals as Oceanographic Samplers (SEaOS) - An international, interdisciplinary programme aimed at increasing our understanding of the interaction of southern elephant seals with their physical environment. The project used custom-built Conductivity-Temperature-Depth Satellite Relay Data Loggers (CTD-SRDLs) mounted on seals to collect CTD profiles from key areas in the Southern Ocean, such as the sea ice zone and frontal systems within the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
  • Surface Current And Wave Variability EXperiment (SCAWVEX) - Addressed problems in wave and current development and their interaction in shallow water environments. The primary object was to measure the spatial and temporal variability of waves and currents in coastal regions, utilising the full range of measurement techniques and models.
  • Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) - An international research initiative that aims to achieve quantitative understanding of the key biogeochemical-physical interactions and feedbacks between the ocean and the atmosphere and how this coupled system affects and is affected by climate and environmental change.
  • The Global Sea Level Observing System (GLOSS) - An international programme coordinated by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) for the establishment of high-quality global and regional sea level networks for application to climate, oceanographic and coastal sea level research.
  • Tropical Atmosphere Ocean Project (TAO) - The TAO Array of moored buoys measures oceanographic and surface meteorological variables critical for improved detection, understanding and prediction of seasonal to interannual climate variations originating in the tropics, most notably those related to the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
  • US Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (US JGOFS) - The US component of the international Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) and an integral part of global climate change research. Supported primarily by the US National Science Foundation in collaboration with the NOAA, NASA, the Department of Energy and the Office of Naval Research.

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