The Rapid Climate Change (RAPID) data set comprises a diverse collection of oceanographic and benthic observations, including profiles of temperature, salinity, dissolved gases and currents. The dataset also includes discrete measurements of plankton, stable isotopes, dissolved metals, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and nutrients in the water column, sediment grain size parameters and geochemistry, and atmospheric concentrations of inorganic halogens. The RAPID data were collected from numerous locations in the North Atlantic, North Sea, Greenland and Europe via over 30 cruises between 2004 and 2008. Many of the oceanographic data resulted from an extensive mooring array in the North Atlantic devoted to monitoring the Atlantic overturning circulation. These mooring arrays are continuing to return data in the follow-on programmes, Rapid Climate Change - Will the Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation Halt? (RAPID-WATCH, 2008-2015) and RAPID - Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (RAPID-AMOC, 2015 onwards) which will result in a decadal time series spanning the North Atlantic. RAPID, RAPID-WATCH and RAPID-AMOC aim to investigate and understand the causes of rapid climate change, with a primary (but not exclusive) focus on the role of the Atlantic Ocean thermohaline circulation. A Rapid Climate Change project office has been established at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton. The cruise and mooring data are managed by the British Oceanographic Data Centre and are supplemented by atmospheric model output held at the British Atmospheric Data Centre (BADC).

The Autosub Under Ice (AUI) data set comprises hydrographic measurements including temperature, salinity, fluorescence, attenuance, dissolved oxygen concentrations and current velocities. Water samples were also collected for salinity and geochemical analysis, and the data set also includes bathymetric and sediment data. The measurements were collected near Greenland and Antarctica in the respective summer seasons for each hemisphere during 2003, 2004 and 2005. The programme consisted of four cruises onboard the ice-capable research vessel RRS James Clark Ross (JCR106, JCR106B, JCR84, JCR97). Data were collected by both shipboard sensors and those attached to the Autosub (an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) package. Shipboard data collection included deployment of a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) package with attached auxiliary sensors. Lowered acoustic Dopper current profilers (LADCPs) were also attached to the CTD frame, while discrete water samples were collected from the CTD stations. Oceanographic, bathymetric and sediment data were collected along the ship's track, while further current data were collected from two mooring deployments. Autosub measurements included standard environmental parameters and acoustic instruments were used to measure ice shelf, sea ice and ocean bottom relief at high resolution. A camera was also attached to the vehicle, permitting the collection of detailed photographs of the seabed. Autosub had been upgraded to achieve 1000 km range and 2500 m water depth, which provided unprecedented access to ice covered regions. The AUI programme was established to investigate the marine environment of floating ice shelves with a view to advancing our understanding of their role in the climate system. It brought together researchers and engineers from a number of UK institutions, with the project being coordinated by the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton.

The data set includes hydrographic profiles (including temperature, salinity, attenuance, chlorophyll, oxygen, irradiance, turbulence, sound velocity and currents), hydrographic time series (temperature, currents, fluorescence, bottom pressure), water samples (>70 parameters measured), sediment samples (>160 parameters measured), sediment trap samples (>10 parameters measured), production experiments and marine snow camera profiles. Additional meteorological and wave records are also available, as well as satellite imagery and underwater photography (water column and seabed). The data were collected on the Hebridean Slope (NW of Ireland) between March 1995 and September 1996. Measurements were collected via a combination of shipboard instrument deployments, including >1,800 conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) and SeaSoar (undulating oceanographic recorder) profiles, >100 expendable bathythermograph (XBT) profiles, >38,000 acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) profiles, >35 core profiles, >800 turbulence profiles, >40 marine snow camera profiles, >55 radiometer profiles and >25 sound velocity and travel time experiments. Benthic lander deployments were also undertaken, along with shipboard incubation experiments and drifting buoy deployments (48 tracks). An intensive water sampling programme provided >2,500 samples for biological and biogeochemical analysis. An extensive moored instrument array was maintained throughout the experiment, including sediment traps, recording current meters (104 series), electromagnetic current meters (9 series), ADCPs (16 series), thermistor chain and temperature probes (70 series), fluorometers (18 series), transmissometers (16 series), light meter (5 series), bottom pressure recorders (11 series), plus one waverider buoy series and three meteorological buoy time series. The Shelf Edge Study (SES) was an intensive multidisciplinary experiment and formed part of the NERC Land Ocean Interaction Study. The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) assembled over 95% of the data sets collected during SES into its project database system. Once basic quality control procedures had been completed the data set was published, complete with extensive data documentation, on CD-ROM.