This dataset comprises species abundance and size data for marine epifauna from towed video surveys. The surveys were undertaken in Lyme Bay, Southwest England in April 2014. Detailed abundance and species composition of epifaunal communities, including percentage cover of encrusting species in the dataset was enumerated using still frames extracted from towed videos and the entire video transects themselves. During the project, 60 sites were surveyed using a towed underwater flying HD video camera along 200 metre transects. From these transects, 30 randomly selected frames were analysed. During January and February 2014, a series of storms swept the North Atlantic, generating some of the highest waves ever recorded in Western Europe with exceptionally long wave periods. The south-west coasts of the UK were heavily impacted by these storms, including Lyme Bay, an area that includes the UK's first large Marine Protected Area (MPA), designated in 2008. This survey work was carried out to test the resilience of marine epifaunal communities in Marine Protected Areas in response to storm disturbance. The project was undertaken by Dr. Emma Sheehan, Dr. Luke Holmes, and Professor Martin Attrill of the University of Plymouth as part of the NERC Discovery Science grant NE/M005208/1 titled ‘Testing resilience in Marine Protected Areas using storm disturbance in Lyme Bay, SW England’.

The deep sea benthic biodiversity dataset encompasses a wide range of benthic sampling and observational activities carried out by the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) since 1973. Data include analyses of samples obtained by fish trawls, benthic imagery and core sampling. The principle regions covered are the Arctic, North Atlantic & Rockall Trough and the Portuguese coast. Sampling has been carried out on numerous cruises, funded through various initiatives (ranging from NERC to commercially-funded ventures). A wide range of methods and equipment were used to obtain the information. These include Agassiz trawls, bed hop cameras, dredges, grabs, epibenthic sledges, corers and landers. These data help to build up a temporal and spatial record of regional biodiversity and consequently are a valuable tool to monitor the state of marine habitats.

The Impacts of Deglaciation on Benthic Marine Ecosystems in Antarctica (ICEBERGS) dataset comprises of physical oceanography, marine geology, habitat mapping, community structure and seabed sediment data. The data were collected from CTD deployments, multi-beam swath bathymetry surveys, TOPAS sub-bottom profiling, shallow underwater camera system deployments, plankton net deployments, Agassiz trawls, Hamon grabs and multi-corer deployments during three seasonal cruises around the West Antarctic Peninsula beginning 2017 and scheduled to end in 2021. The data were collected as part of the ICEBERGS project to investigate the impacts of physical disturbance arising from climate-warming induced deglaciation on benthic communities around the West Antarctic Peninsula. The ICEBERGS project is part of the joint funded NERC-CONICYT Initiative and involves collaboration between the University of Exeter, University of Bangor, British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción. The physical data will be managed by the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) with the remainder of the data being submitted to the Polar Data Centre (BAS-PDC).

Collection of geophysical and oceanographic data from several cruises dedicated to the repeated mapping and monitoring of three UK Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) - Haig Fras, Whittard Canyon and the Darwin Mounds. Data were collected during the following 2018-2020 cruises: JC166/7, DY103, DY108/9, DY120 and DY106. Data collection took place at three of the UK’s MPAs - Haig Fras Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) in the Celtic Sea, Whittard Canyon submarine complex, which includes The Canyons MCZ, situated off the south west UK continental shelf and Darwin Mounds Special Area of Conservation (SAC), situated in the northern Rockall Trough. An Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) was used to collect photographic data, sidescan sonar and multibeam bathymetry. Other data included shipboard multibeam bathymetry data; moored ADCP, CTD and sediment trap datasets from repeat mooring deployments; ROV video, pushcores and specimen samples; settling plate experiments; box cores and mega cores; BioCam imagery. The MPAs under investigation had been previously surveyed on cruises JC035 (2009) and JC125 (2015) hence these cruises formed part of the Fixed Point Observations Underpinning Activity. Here repeated observations and surveys of MPAs and their surroundings aim to provide insight into the development and recovery of benthic ecosystems following natural and/or anthropogenic impacts. The data collection was undertaken by scientists at the UK’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC) and formed part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Climate Linked Atlantic Sector Science (CLASS) Programme (NERC grant reference NE/R015953/1).

The dataset contains physical, biogeochemical and biological data, including measurements of water temperature, salinity, fluorescence, dissolved gases and current velocities; plankton samples from nets and plankton recorders; water samples for analysis of nutrients, phytoplankton, radioactivity and biogeochemical parameters; benthic cores; meteorological time series (pressure, temperature, humidity, wind velocities); atmospheric samples and ocean-atmosphere fluxes; and results from incubation experiments. The data were collected north of the Crozet Plateau in the Southern Ocean/Southwest Indian Ocean on RRS Discovery cruises D285 (3rd November - 10th December 2004) and D286 (13th December 2004 - 21st January 2005). Much of the data collection focussed on a series of Major Stations (called M1 to M10), with measurements being collected at these stations every two or three days. Conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) casts were undertaken at each station, providing both hydrographic data and water samples from a range of depths. Other work at each Major Station included zooplankton nets, Longhurst-Hardy Plankton Recorder (LHPR) tows, sediment coring and Argo float deployment. In between Major Stations some additional CTD casts were undertaken. The SeaSoar oceanographic undulator provided further hydrographic data, while hull-mounted acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) provided current velocity data across the survey area. In addition, continuous underway measurements of hydrographic and meteorological parameters and surface water samples were collected along the cruise track. Five moorings were deployed, one of which was recovered at the end of D286. The other four, including sediment traps, current profilers and CTDs were deployed for one year. CROZEX (CROZet circulation, iron fertilization and Export production experiment) is a complex, multidisciplinary project to examine, from surface to sediment, the structure, causes and consequences of a naturally occurring annual phytoplankton bloom that forms. This collaborative project involved researchers in Ireland and the UK, and was administered by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), Southampton. Data are managed by the British Oceanographic Data Centre. Much of the CROZEX data processing is ongoing and a number of datasets have yet to be submitted to BODC. The data described here are those presently held by BODC, with the exception of the Argo floats (these data are not expected by BODC and should be accessible via the Argo website) and the four year-long mooring deployments (data from these will be submitted to BODC in the future).