The COMICS (Controls over Ocean Mesopelagic Interior Carbon Storage) project consists of observations, at sea, of particle flux and stable isotopes. It applies organic geochemical and molecular biological techniques to samples collected using nets and traps. The study areas are the tropical Atlantic and Southern Oceans. The results will be combined with models to quantify the flow of carbon in the ocean’s ‘twilight’ zone in order to accurately model global climate change. This ‘twilight’ zone is the part of the ocean between 100m and 1000m below the sea surface, where only a small amount of light from the sun can still penetrate. By investigating carbon dynamics in the ocean interior, COMICS will help to improve predictions of future global climate change. The COMICS project is led by the National Oceanography Centre and is a collaboration between the British Antarctic Survey and the universities of Queen Mary London, Liverpool, Oxford and Southampton. The project received funding from the Natural Environmental Research Council and runs between 2017 and 2021.

This dataset consists of measurements of wave height, direction and frequency, bubble size distribution, Autoflux measurements of air-sea fluxes CO2, and WAVEX measurements of directional wave radar. Data were collected onboard the RRS James Clark Ross in the Weddell Sea during cruises in the 2010/2011, 2011/12 and 2012/13 field seasons. Meteorology data were collected using an aspirated psychrometer and temperature and humidity sensors mounted above the bridge of the ship. Wavex and Autoflux systems were run for the duration of each cruise. Bubble size distributions were measured with two acoustic resonators. These cruises formed the field component of NERC Discovery Science project "Waves, Aerosol and Gas Exchange Study (WAGES)”. The data were collected to measure the amount of aerosol at different sizes generated near the surface and transported upwards into the atmosphere, along with the wind speed, wave size and white-capping under a wide range of different conditions. The aim was to improve understanding of aerosol generation and ultimately the way in which clouds are represented within climate models. The Discovery Science project was composed of three Standard Grants. The lead grant, NE/G00353X/1, was held by the University of Leeds, School of Earth and Environment, with Professor Ian M. Brooks as principal investigator. The funding period for this grant was 01 August 2009 to 31 March 2014. Child grant NE/G003696/1 was held by the National Oceanography Centre, Department of Science and Technology and was led by Professor Meric Srokosz. The funding period for this grant was 01 September 2009 to 31 March 2014. The third grant was held under the title “pCO2 data collection on James Clark Ross in support of Autoflux” at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory. It was led by Professor Phillip D. Nightingale and was funded for the period covering 01 April 2010 to 31 March 2013. All data described have been received by BODC from the RRS James Clark Ross and will be processed and made available online in the future. Raw data are available on request.

The dataset includes full-depth hydrographic profiles and current data collected by acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs). Water samples were collected and analysed for salinity, inorganic nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, silicon), organic nitrogen and phosphorus components, dissolved organic carbon and alkalinity. Measurements of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) and helium/tritium tracers were also collected to identify ages of water masses. These core observations were supplemented by measurements made by tied PhD students: measurements of Dissolved Organic Nitrogen (DON) and Dissolved Organic Phosphorus (DOP); isotopic nitrogen signatures; atmospheric deposition of nitrogen and phosphorus; measurements of dissolved organic carbon and dissolved oxygen; and plankton respiration rates. These measurements were taken on the RRS Charles Darwin across the North Atlantic, departing from Bermuda on 1 May 2005 and arriving in Lisbon on 15 June 2005. Data were collected via a number of conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) casts and continuous underway measurements. The study aimed to examine why ocean temperatures are rising within the tropics and mid-latitudes of the North Atlantic but decreasing at high latitudes. Investigators: National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS): Elaine McDonagh, Brian King, Harry Bryden, Richard Sanders, Paula Mcleod . University of Liverpool: Ric Williams, George Wolff, Rhiannon Mather, Susan Leadbetter. University of East Anglia: Carol Robinson, Andy Watson, Tim Jickells, Ute Schuster. Proudman Oceanography Laboratory: Clare Postlethwaite.

The Christchurch Harbour Macronutrients Project is one of four consortium projects funded by the NERC through the Macronutrient Cycles Programme. The overall goal of the Macronutrients Programme is to quantify the scales (magnitude and spatial/temporal variation) of Nitrogen and Phosphorus fluxes and the nature of transformations through the catchment under a changing climate and a perturbed Carbon cycle. ‘The catchment’ is defined as covering exchanges between the atmospheric, terrestrial and aqueous environments, with the limit of the aqueous environment being marked by the seaward estuarine margin. The aim of the consortium research project is to better understand the behaviour of macronutrients over a range of temporal and spatial scales including the effect of storm events in the Hampshire Avon and Stour rivers and Christchurch Harbour estuary in Dorset. Data collection spans from October 2012 to January 2017. The Christchurch Harbour Macronutrients Project intensively monitored the river inputs and exchange of nutrients at the estuary mouth as well as looking at sediment re-suspension and the role of phytoplankton in macronutrient cycling within the estuary. By using a number of state of the art continuous monitoring techniques and modelling approaches, the scientists produced an accurate assessment of the impact of nutrients entering the estuary during short term storm increased flows in the two rivers. Previously, most water quality monitoring in rivers and estuaries has taken place at fixed times that are spaced too far apart to capture storms when they occur. This is the first project in the UK to intensively monitor water quality in estuaries using sensors and weather prediction technology to anticipate a storm. The Project PI is Duncan Purdie (Ocean and Earth Sciences, NOC).

The dataset comprises physical, biogeochemical and biological measurements from the Southern Ocean. The data were collected in the Bransfield and Gerlache Straits and Bellingshausen Sea between 1995 and 1996. Hydrographic casts provided profiles of temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, transmittance, chlorophyll and photosynthetically active radiation, while water samples were analysed for bacteria, zooplankton and a biogeochemical parameters such as nutrient concentrations. Sediment cores were also analysed for nutrients, while drifting traps provided sedimentation flux measurements and shipboard experiments yielded production data. The majority of measurements were collected during two consecutive cruises of the BIO Hesperides between early December 1995 and early February 1996. The hydrographic profiles were collected using a CTD and the data were stored as approximately 300 individual ASCII files per cruise, with data stored at 1dbar resolution. Several hundred discrete measurements (water samples and sediment cores) were collected in total. An array of moorings deployed for one year in the Western Bransfield Strait Basin provided sediment trap samples for biological and biogeochemical analysis. The FRUELA project was part of the Spanish contribution to the study of biogeochemical carbon fluxes in the Southern Ocean. Three major zones, with contrasting physico-chemical and biological characteristics were considered: Bellingshausen, including the Northwest Bellingshausen Sea and comprising the southern boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (SbyACC); Bransfield, including the Western Bransfield Strait and the northeastern part of the Gerlache Strait; and Gerlache, including the rest of the Gerlache Strait. The research involved a number of Spanish institutions and was coordinated by the University of Oviedo and the Institute of Marine Sciences (CSIC). The data are held by the British Oceanographic Data Centre.

This dataset comprises 45 hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, during December 1998 - January 1999 from stations off the coast of Vigo and in the Nazare Canyon. 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 University of Rostock Institute of Biosciences as part of the Ocean Margin Exchange (OMEX) II project.

This dataset comprises 41 hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, during April - May 1993 from stations in the English Channel, Bay of Biscay, Ria de Vigo, Ria de Arosa and Ria de Muros. 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 Université Libre de Bruxelles, Laboratory of Chemical Oceanography and Water Geochemistry as part of the Ocean Margin Exchange (OMEX) I project.

The data set comprises hydrographic and biogeochemical and biological measurements including temperature, salinity, currents, chlorophyll, dissolved organic and inorganic carbon and nitrogen, suspended matter concentrations, nutrients, plankton and fish. The results of primary production experiments are also included. The data were collected from the Bristol Channel, Severn Estuary, Celtic Sea and Plymouth Sound between 1971 and 1983. Measurements were taken over a series of more than 100 cruises, many with more than 50 stations. The most intensive sampling took place before 1975. The original data were collated and stored at Institute for Marine Environmental Research (IMER), which became Plymouth Marine Laboratory in 1988. As this is a large and important data set, which was previously held in an inaccessible format, it was selected for long-term archival at BODC as part of the NERC SEEDCORN programme. The data have been extracted, loaded into a relational database and are available on CD-ROM.

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.

The dataset contains hydrographic and biogeochemical data, including continuous underway measurements of surface temperature, salinity, nutrients, chlorophyll and attenuance, irradiance and bathymetric depth. Underway dissolved oxygen and/or trace metal measurements were also collected on occasion. Hydrographic profiles of temperature, salinity, transmittance, fluorescence, dissolved oxygen (data often of poor quality) and scalar irradiance were undertaken, and associated water samples were routinely analysed for suspended particulate material (SPM), chlorophyll, nutrients and particulate organic carbon/particulate organic nitrogen (POC/PON). In addition, dissolved and particulate trace metals, production, contaminants, dissolved organic carbon/total dissolved nitrogen (DOC/TDN) were determined in some cases. Benthic measurements were also collected, including benthic flux determinations (microcosm experiments), sediment characterisation, pore water chemistry measurements and the quantification of the benthic macrofauna. The coastal oceanographic data set was collected along the east coast of England between Great Yarmouth and Berwick upon Tweed. Data were collected between December 1992 and July 1995 during a series of 17 RRS Challenger cruise legs. Most cruises covered two survey grids: one from Great Yarmouth to the Humber designed around the distribution of the sandbanks and a second simple zig-zag grid from the Humber to Berwick on Tweed. A large number of anchor stations, usually over one or two tidal cycles, were worked in the vicinity of the Humber mouth or the Holderness coast. Each cruise leg returned underway data and conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) data and water bottle rosette samples from grid nodes. A Lasentech in-situ particle sizer was used to obtain grain size distributions at spot depths for each CTD station on many of the cruise legs. Box and multicorer samples were collected on approximately one third of the cruise legs. The River-Atmosphere-Coast Study (RACS) was the component of the Land Ocean Interaction Study (LOIS) programme looking at processes from the river catchment into the coastal sea. Investigators include representatives of Plymouth University, Southampton University, Liverpool University, University of East Anglia, Newcastle University, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, and the University of Wales, Bangor. All data sets collected during the RACS Challenger cruises are held by the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC). All underway and CTD data have been fully calibrated and quality controlled by BODC. The water sample and benthic data sets have been quality controlled by the data originators and submitted to BODC. The data are held in the BODC project database and have been published as part of a fully documented CD-ROM product.