The data set comprises measurement of physical and biological oceanographic parameters from the Western English Channel, initially collected as part of the Plankton Monitoring Programme at Station L4 from 1988 onwards. L4 is one of a series of hydrographic stations in the Western English Channel which have also been the basis of a series of hydrographic surveys carried out during the 20th Century by scientists at the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth. In May 2002 sampling expanded to include Station E1, approximately 25 nautical miles south-west of Plymouth. Plankton Monitoring began through the work of the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) Zooplankton Group. Other stations include Rame head, Jennycliff, Plmouth Deep and Cawsand. A long-term time-series of weekly observations has been established by exploiting the activities of small boats (Sepia, Squilla and Plymouth Quest) in an opportunistic way as by-product of their other sampling activities, for example the collection of live plankton, sea-water, trawling for fish and squid. Initially no formal research programme or long-term funding for the Plankton Monitoring existed but the series was included in NERC Oceans 2025 funding as a Sustained Observatory and continues to be funded under NERC National Capability. Funding has been provided over different time periods under various names but the programme is commonly referred to as the Western Channel Observatory (WCO), with additional funding allowing additional data collection to take place, taking advantage of the core measurements. Although every attempt has been made to standardise methodology and achieve data consistency it is important to recognize that the varied personnel and research objectives that have contributed to this dataset may impact on the nature of the data set. The core datasets are made available through the westernchannelobservatory.org website. Data are also submitted to BODC where it is archived and published with a DOI at finer granules. At BODC further meta(data) checks take place and metadata are enriched and served through BODC systems with PML originators informed of any changes to data.

The dataset comprises 31 hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, from on the Malin shelf-edge, on the North-West UK shelf margin area specifically tho the north east of the Hebrides Seamount, during August and September 1995. A complete list of all data parameters are described by the SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary (PDV) keywords assigned in this metadata record. The data were collected by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency Winfrith as part of the Shelf Edge Studies Acoustic Measurement Experiment (SESAME).

This dataset comprises hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, during September - October 1992. It incorporates CTD anchor stations and grid surveys in the Humber Estuary, Humber Plume and the Wash, a survey of the Southern North Sea and some casts off the east coast of Scotland. The data were collected by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Lowestoft Fisheries Laboratory as part of the Joint Nutrient Study I (JoNuS).

This dataset comprises 9 hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, during April 2005 from several stations close to the Canary Islands leading to a transect at approximately 24.5 N as far as the mid-Atlantic Ridge. A complete list of all data parameters are described by the SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary (PDV) keywords assigned in this metadata record. The data were collected by the Southampton Oceanography Centre as part of the Rapid Climate Change programme.

This collection comprises physical measurements of the water column and surface waters, together with supporting discrete chemical and biological datasets. The data were obtained from the Irish Sea and in the sea off western Scotland over 4 periods: 17 and 23 August 2011 and 06 - 07 March 2012, all collected on Seiont IV cruises and 15 - 22 June 2012 obtained using the RV Prince Madog. These datasets and their collection methods are as follows: 1) LISST particle size data - A LISST 100X type C laser diffraction instrument was lowered in a frame from the ship and the depth-averaged volumes of particles in 32 size classes in a water column from the surface to a depth of 10 m (or the bottom, where shallower) were measured. 2) CTD profiles of conductivity, temperature, sigma-theta and salinity. At each station, a CTD with attached rosette was lowered, with data measurements taken. 3) SPM, mineral SPM, chlorophyll and CDOM water sample data. At each station a surface water sample was collected either in a bucket or in a rosette sampler on the CTD and triplicate sub-samples were filtered and subsequently dried and weighed, baked (at 500°C for 3 hours to remove organic material) and weighed again. 4) CDOM discrete samples taken from CTD and underway. Surface water samples collected at each station were filtered through 0.2 μm filters and the spectral variation of the absorption coefficient of the dissolved material in the filtrate was measured in a 10 cm cell in a Shimadzu 1600 dual-beam spectrophotometer, using distilled water as a reference. 5) Water column inherent optical property profiles. Measurements of beam attenuation were made using a Sea Tech T1000 transmissometer (20cm pathlength) fixed to the CTD on the RV Prince Madog. At some stations, vertical profiles of downwelling irradiance and upwelling radiance were made with a PRR radiometer. These cruises formed the fieldwork component of the NERC-funded project "Measurement of the abundance and optical significance of sub-micron sized particles in the ocean". The project aimed to use different magnifications and commercially available in-situ particle sizing instruments to create a package of instruments for measuring the undisturbed particle size distributions from 0.2 μm to 1 mm. This package will first be used in a turbulence tank to 'film' the flocculation process. The insight this gives will be used to construct new theoretical models of the particle size distribution. Because the camera also measures the shape of the particles, differences between observed and calculated optical properties can be compared, for the first time, to particle shape. Finally, the complete dataset will be collated to determine what size particles, under what conditions, are primarily responsible for the signals seen in visible band satellite images of the oceans. The NERC-funded project was held under lead grant reference NE/H022090/1 with child grants NE/H020853/1 and NE/H021493/1. The lead grant was held at Bangor University, School of Ocean Sciences by Professor David Bowers and ran from 01 April 2011 to 31 March 2014. Grant NE/H020853/1 was held at the University of Plymouth, School of Marine Science and Engineering by Dr. William Alexander Nimmo Smith and ran from 01 October 2010 to 30 September 2013. Finally, grant NE/H021493/1 was held at the University of Strathclyde Physics Department by Dr. David McKee and ran from 01 April 2011 to 31 March 2014. All data have been received by BODC as raw files from the RV Prince Madog and Seiont IV, processed and quality controlled using in-house BODC procedures.

The data set comprises time series of wave height and period data from in-situ wave recorders at fixed locations. Principal parameters are significant/characteristic wave height and mean zero crossing period - usually derived from the analysis of 20 or 30 minute recordings taken at intervals of the order of 3 hours. Data holdings include over 1500 recording months of data from some 60 sites across the continental shelf areas around the British Isles and the NE Atlantic between 1954 and 1995. Recording periods vary from 2 months at some sites to over 15 years. The longer series are noted here: Channel Lightvessel (49 54.4N, 002 53.7W; 01 Sep 1979 - 31 Dec 1985); Dowsing Lightvessel (53 34.0N, 000 50.2W; 01 May 1970 - 30 Apr 1971; 01 Nov 1975 - 30 Jun 1981; 01 Jan 1982 - 31 Dec 1982; 01 Jan 1984 - 31 Dec 1984); Ocean Weather Ship Lima (57 00.0N, 020 00.0W; 01 Jan 1975 - 31 Dec 1983); Saint Gowan Lightvessel (51 30.0N, 004 59.8W; 01 Aug 1975 - 31 Jul 1976; 01 Dec 1976 - 31 Dec 1983); Seven Stones Lightvessel (50 03.8N, 006 04.4W; 31 Jan 1962 - 31 Jan 1963; 01 Jan 1968 - 31 Dec 1969; 01 Jul 1971 - 30 Jun 1974; 01 Apr 1975 - 31 Dec 1985). The data originate primarily from UK and Irish laboratories and are managed by the British Oceanographic Data Centre. Data collection is ongoing at some sites (for example, Seven Stones Lighvessel) but these data are not managed by BODC. They are part of the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) wavenet network.

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 67deg East from 8 to 14.5deg North; and a major section from 8deg North, 67 deg 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.

This dataset comprises hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, during April 1986. It incorporates a 15-hour anchor station of hourly profiles at 54.65N, 3.73W in the eastern Irish Sea. The data were collected by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Lowestoft Fisheries Laboratory.