Horizontal velocity of the water column (currents)
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This dataset consists of model outputs from ensemble simulations of an idealised Southern Ocean using a quasi-geotrophic model called Q-GCM. As such, there are no calendar dates associated with it. Two models were generated: Initial Condition Perturbation Ensemble (ICPE) experiments model output covers years 162-168 of the simulation; Boundary Condition Perturbation Ensemble (BCPE) experiments model output covers years 150-180 of the simulation. The models created form the practical element of the NERC project ‘The structure and stability of transport and fixing barriers within the Antarctic Circumpolar Current’. The project aims to quantify the relationship between Southern Ocean winds, the eddy saturation mechanism and the branch-like structure of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. The work was funded by means of a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Discovery Science New Investigators Grant ‘NE/I001794/1’. The grant ran from 02 August 2010 to 21 September 2012 and was led by Dr. Chris Wilson at the UK’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC). The model simulation data were submitted to the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) for archive and are stored in the originator format.
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The dataset consists of northward and eastward baroclinic and barotropic current vectors derived from a 40 year run of the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal Ocean Modelling System (POLCOMS) numerical model, run from 01 January 1964 to 31 December 2004. The dataset consists of 41 data files in Climate and Forecast (CF) compliant NetCDF format. The data are supplied as a gridded dataset covering the entire northwest European continental shelf and extending out into the Atlantic Ocean. The grid resolution varies from 7.8 km to 14.2 km along the longitudinal axis and is at 12.3 km on the latitudinal axis. The model contains 40 depth layers. The model run was from 01 January 1964 to 31 December 2004. The barotropic currents were generated every 20 seconds, while the baroclinic currents were generated every 300 seconds. These generated currents were then averaged over a 25 hour tidal cycle to remove tidal current influence from the data. The dataset consists of 41 data files in Climate and Forecast (CF) compliant NetCDF format. The model simulations were run on the HECTOR supercomputer managed by the University of Edinburgh. The data were generated by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) Liverpool as part of Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) National Capability (NC) funding looking at multi-decadal variability and trends in temperature of the northwest European continental shelf.
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This dataset consists of depth-averaged eastward and northward current components. Also present is the sea surface height above sea level. The dataset is a gridded dataset, with grid resolution of 1.85 km. It covers the entire Irish Sea area, with a precise range from -2.7 degrees longitude to -7 degrees longitude and from 51 degrees latitude to 56 degrees latitude. The data are 30 minute averages and cover the period from 01 January 1996 to 01 January 2007. The dataset was generated by the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal Ocean Modelling System coupled with the Wave Modelling model (POLCOMS-WAM) as part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) CoFEE project which ran from April 2007 to September 2010. The depth-averaged eastward and northward current components and sea surface height were used as input conditions into a coastal processes and sediment transport model which looked at the response of the north Liverpool coastline to extreme flooding events. The dataset was generated by the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (since April 2010, part of the UK National Oceanography Centre). The dataset consists of 264 data files in Climate and Forecast (CF) compliant NetCDF format.
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This dataset consists of eastward and northward current components at 32 depth levels. The dataset is a gridded dataset, with grid resolution of 1.85 km. It covers the entire Irish Sea area, with a precise range from -2.7 degrees longitude to -7 degrees longitude and from 51 degrees latitude to 56 degrees latitude. The data are daily averages and cover the period from 01 January 1996 to 01 January 2007. The dataset was generated by the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal Ocean Modelling System coupled with the Wave Modelling model (POLCOMS-WAM) as part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) CoFEE project which ran from April 2007 to September 2010. The eastward and northward current components were used as input conditions into a coastal processes and sediment transport model which looked at the response of the north Liverpool coastline to extreme flooding events. The dataset was generated by the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (since April 2010, part of the UK National Oceanography Centre). The dataset consists of 132 data files in Climate and Forecast (CF) compliant NetCDF format.
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This dataset contains particle flux analyses and current measurements collected from sediment traps and associated moored current meter instrumentation. Four McLane sediment traps were deployed in the Iceland Basin (by the Ocean Weather Station India) in a mesoscale array around 60 degrees N 20 degrees W to sample particle flux time series between November 2006 - July 2007 and August 2007 - June 2008. Sediment traps were deployed with Aanderaa RCM8 current meters 15 m below the traps, recording current speed and direction once an hour. The sediment traps were initially deployed during RRS Discovery cruise D312 and recovered on RRS Discovery cruise D321. For the second deployment period the traps were deployed on RRS Discovery cruise D321 and recovered on RRS Discovery cruise D340. The first sediment traps were prepared for analysis by scientists shortly after recovery. The second deployment samples were stored in the dark at 4 degrees Celsius until 2016 and were subsequently analysed. All sediment trap samples are preserved with formalin and hence should not be affected by long time storage. The samples were analysed for mass flux, particulate organic carbon (POC) and nitrogen (PON) flux, calcium carbonate flux, biogenic silica flux (including dissolved contribution for deployment 2), strontium flux (including Acantharian cyst fractions for deployment 1 and 2 and particulate fractions for deployment 2). The samples from the latter part of deployment 2 are thought to have severely under collected and so those data are flagged. The dataset was produced for the purposes of calculating sediment fluxes in the Iceland Basin and was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) - Oceans 2025 Programme (Grant number NE/L002531/1).
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This dataset consists of current velocity measurements of the water column from an upward-looking Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) deployed on the seabed and also includes CTD casts from an SBE 911+ CTD taken a long the Wyville Thompson Ridge. The mooring is situated in the region of the Wyville Thomson Ridge – a notable bathymetric feature running north-west from the Scottish shelf towards the Faroe Bank. The gully present between the Ridge and the parallel Ymir Ridge is the study site chosen for mooring work that began in 2003 and ended in 2013. Mooring deployment durations have typically ranged from between five and twelve months. Successive deployments have enabled a multi-year time series to develop. There have, however, been periods of instrumentation loss, which account for some gaps in the overall record (most noticeably during 2008/2009). Servicing of the mooring has been achieved using various research vessels and has often been incorporated into the schedule of the annual cruises occupying the Extended Ellett Line. The mooring consists of an anchored buoy housing an RDI Long Ranger ADCP, designed to rest on the seabed, with the instrument facing upwards. Current velocity measurements from the mooring help to provide valuable insight into regional ocean circulation. A small, poorly quantified, component of the southward-flowing deep water from the Arctic cascades over the Wyville Thomson Ridge from the Faroe Bank Channel into the northern Rockall Trough. Maintaining this time series will afford a better understanding of this outflow. The Wyville Thomson mooring work is led by Toby Sherwin at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS).
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The World Ocean Isopycnal-Level Velocity (WOIL-V) climatology was derived from the United States Navy's Generalised Digital Environmental Model (GDEM) temperature and salinity profiles, using the P-Vector Method. The absolute velocity data have the same horizontal resolution and temporal variation (annual, monthly) as GDEM (T, S) fields. These data have an horizontal resolution of 0.5 degrees ×0.5 degrees, and 222 isopycnal-levels (sigma theta levels) from sigma theta = 22.200 to 27.725 (kg m-3) with the increment delta sigma theta = 0.025 (kg m-3), however in the equatorial zone (5 degrees S – 5 degrees N) they are questionable due to the geostrophic balance being the theoretical base for the P-vector inverse method. The GDEM model, which served as the base for the calculations includes data from 1920s onwards and the WOIL-V will be updated with the same frequency as the GDEM. The climatological velocity field on isopycnal surface is dynamically compatible to the GDEM (T, S) fields and provides background ocean currents for oceanographic and climatic studies, especially in ocean isopycnal modeling. The climatology was prepared by the Department of Oceanography, Naval Postgraduate School.
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The North Atlantic Norwegian Sea Exchange (NANSEN) data set comprises hydrographic profiles (temperature and salinity) and time series of current velocity, temperature and occasionally conductivity from the North Atlantic Ocean. The measurements were collected between 1986 and 1988 using conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) profilers, moored current meters and thermistor chains. Data collection was undertaken by six laboratories in four countries (Faroes, Germany, Norway and the UK). The NANSEN project was conceived by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Oceanic Hydrography Working Group. It aimed to study the hydrography and circulation of the Iceland Basin and the temporal and spatial variability of the inflows and outflows across the Greenland-Scotland Ridge. Current meter data from a number of laboratories involved in NANSEN and CTD data collected by UK participants are managed by the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC). A further 50 current meter series have been collected, but have not yet been acquired by BODC. The data will be subjected to the usual BODC quality control procedures for current meter series. The hydrographic data set collected during the NANSEN experiment has been compiled by the ICES Secretariat.
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The data set comprises current velocity, hydrographic pressure and sea temperature measurements from the Scottish continental slope between August 1982 and June 1983. The instrument deployments, mainly current meter moorings, were made along a set of lines defined A-G across the Scottish continental slope (51 N - 63 N, 0 - 15 W). Current meters recorded horizontal currents, temperature and pressure, while six bottom-mounted pressure gauges were deployed at either end of each line. Four temporary tide gauges were also installed from Sligo (Ireland) to Shetland. The Continental Slope Experiment (CONSLEX) was designed to study water movements across the Scottish continental slope. CONSLEX was a collaborative exercise between the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences Wormley Laboratory (IOSW) and the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences Bidston Laboratory (IOSB) now collectively known as the National Oceanography Centre (NOC); the Scottish Marine Biological Association (SMBA), now known as the Scottish Marine Institute based at the Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory (DML); the Scottish Office Agriculture and Fisheries Department (SOAFD), now known as Marine Scotland Aberdeen Marine Laboratory; and the Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Lowestoft Laboratory (MAFF), now known as the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS). The data are held at the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC).
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This multi-decadal time series initially contains water current and temperature data from a single, near bottom instrument. A second, shallower instrument recording the same parameters was subsequently added after several years of successful operation. Conductivity data are similarly integrated into the time series after a further period of operation. The data are typically at hourly resolution. The mooring is situated in the Tiree Passage, between the Isles of Mull and Coll, off the west coast of Scotland. The specific site chosen was where the passage is at its narrowest (10 km), mid-way between the coasts of the two Isles. The mooring site is in water depths of approximately 45 m. Mooring activity began in June 1981 and consisted of a single RCM current meter placed 11 m above the seabed. The mooring design was modified to incorporate a second RCM current meter at 22 m above the seabed from November 1987. Aanderaa conductivity sensors were added at the two depths in 1993, with MicroCAT conductivity sensors being incorporated in 2002. There are some gaps in the record, most noticeably between January 2000 and May 2002, a period when the observations were temporarily suspended. Fishing damage has generated smaller gaps in the data set over the years. This region was chosen as a site for long term monitoring after radiocaesium studies showed that the major part of the water carried northwards from the North Channel in the Scottish coastal current passes between Mull and Coll. The mooring provides data for comparison with tracer studies and for an examination of the roles of wind forcing and buoyancy contributions to the coastal current. Tiree Passage mooring work is led by Colin Griffiths at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS).