This dataset comprises measurements of microbial uptake activities of betaine and choline, particulate phase osmolytes, amplicon sequencing of marker genese involved in Nitrogenous-osmolyte catabolism, and single cell genome data. Water samples were collected from at the L4 station of the Western Channel Observatory between April 27, 2015 to April 24, 2017 using Niskin bottles attached to a rosette sampler deployed from the RV Plymouth Quest. Nitrogenous osmolytes (glycine betaine, choline and trimethylamine N-oxide are essential components for most organisms in the marine environment. They enable cells to exist in a salty environment, but also have several other proposed uses. The aim of the project is to understand the seasonal cycle of glycine betaine, trimethylamine N-oxide and choline at Station L4. The water samples were analysed for the microbial assimilation and dissimilation activities using 14C labelled betaine and choline, respectively. The data will be incorporated to the European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model (ERSEM) coupled with the hydrodynamic model General Ocean Turbulent Model (GOTM) to simulate the N-osmolyte cycling at the L4 station. The data were collected under the project Biogeochemical cycling of N-osmolytes in the surface ocean funded by NERC Discovery Science grants NE/M002233/1 (parent), NE/M003361/1 (child), NE/M002934/1 (child). The grants were led by Dr Yin Chen, Dr Ruth Airs, and Dr Wei Huang respectively.

The GEBCO_2020 Grid is a global continuous terrain model for ocean and land with a spatial resolution of 15 arc seconds. In regions outside of the Arctic Ocean area, the grid uses as a base Version 2 of the SRTM15_plus data set (Tozer, B. et al, 2019). This data set is a fusion of land topography with measured and estimated seafloor topography. Included on top of this base grid are gridded bathymetric data sets developed by the four Regional Centers of The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project. The GEBCO_2020 Grid represents all data within the 2020 compilation. The compilation of the GEBCO_2020 Grid was carried out at the Seabed 2030 Global Center, hosted at the National Oceanography Centre, UK, with the aim of producing a seamless global terrain model. Outside of Polar regions, the gridded bathymetric data sets supplied by the Regional Centers, as sparse grids, i.e. only grid cells that contain data were populated, were included on to the base grid without any blending. The data sets supplied in the form of complete grids (primarily areas north of 60N and south of 50S) were included using feather blending techniques from GlobalMapper software. The GEBCO_2020 Grid has been developed through the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project. This is a collaborative project between the Nippon Foundation of Japan and the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO). It aims to bring together all available bathymetric data to produce the definitive map of the world ocean floor by 2030 and make it available to all. Funded by the Nippon Foundation, the four Seabed 2030 Regional Centers include the Southern Ocean - hosted at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany; South and West Pacific Ocean - hosted at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand; Atlantic and Indian Oceans - hosted at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, USA; Arctic and North Pacific Oceans - hosted at Stockholm University, Sweden and the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping at the University of New Hampshire, USA.

The WireWall project developed a prototype wave overtopping field measurement system. The system was designed and trailed at Crosby Beach, Hall Road carpark, north of Liverpool during winter 2018/2019. The data collected include both wave-by-wave overtopping volumes and horizontal velocities. At the time of the project the coastal structure at this site comprised a stepped revetment and vertical sea wall with a recurve. The system was designed at the National Oceanography Centre, validated in HR Wallingford’s flume facility and deployed with Sefton Council. Five datasets are available from the project. These contain processed data from: 1) The numerical wave overtopping estimates for past events used to design the system and plan deployments; 2) The numerical wave overtopping estimates for the joint wave and water level conditions with a 1 in 1 year return period probability to a 1 in 200 year return period probability in Liverpool Bay; 3) The dock side tests; 4) The physical laboratory experiments; and, 5) The field trials during windy spring tides. For Crosby these data can be used to validate/calibrate numerical tools used for coastal scheme design and flood hazard forecasting. Beach profile data collected alongside the overtopping measurements have been archived with the Northwest Regional Coastal Monitoring Programme, https://www.channelcoast.org/northwest/. This project was delivered by the National Oceanography Centre in collaboration with HR Wallingford. Our project partners were Sefton Council, Balfour Beatty, Environment Agency, Channel Coastal Observatory and Marlan Maritime Technologies.

The Mediterranean-Alpine Experiment (MEDALPEX) data set comprises over 200,000 hourly sea level measurements. Data are included from 28 sites around the northern coast of the Mediterranean and one in the Atlantic at Cadiz. Measurements were collected from December 1981 and September 1982, with a special observing period (SOP) between 15 February and 30 April 1982. Twenty eight coastal sites were instrumented with conventional stilling wells, while one offshore site off Corsica used a bottom pressure recorder. The data are stored, together with benchmark information, as time series at each site with hourly values of sea surface elevation recorded to the nearest millimetre. The aim of the MEDALPEX Experiment was to study the role of atmospheric forcing on the dynamics of the Western Mediterranean. Data were supplied by laboratories in Belgium, France, Monaco, Italy, Spain, UK and former Yugoslavia. Responsibility for assembling, quality controlling and analyzing the sea level data collected during MEDALPEX was vested in the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC).

A set of historical tide gauge sea level records from Alicante (Spanish Mediterranean coast) have been recovered from logbooks stored at the Spanish National Geographical Institute (IGN). Sea level measurements have been digitised, quality-controlled and merged into two consistent sea level time series. Vertical references among instruments benchmarks have been derived from high precision vertical levelling surveys. Earlier observations are daily averages and more recent data are hourly values. The observations are from 7 different tide gauge records in Alicante outer harbour (Alicante I) and five tide gauge series in Alicante inner harbour (Alicante II). The sea level record in Alicante starts in 1870 with daily averaged values until the 1920s and hourly afterwards, and is still in operation, thus representing the longest tide gauge sea level time series in the Mediterranean Sea. The sea level at Alicante I has been measured by tide pole, floating gauge, mechanical recorder, digital recorder and since 2014 by radar gauge. The sea level at Alicante II has been measured by floating gauge, digital recorder and from 2014 onwards by radar gauge. This scarcity of long-term sea-level observations, as well as their uneven geographical distribution is a major challenge for climate studies that address, for example, the quantification of mean sea-level rise at centennial time scales, the accurate assessment of sea-level acceleration or the long-term changes in sea-level extremes that are vital for coastal risk assessments. This dataset represents an additional effort of sea-level data archaeology and aims at preserving the historical scientific heritage that has been up to now stored in old archives in non-electronic format. The research was partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. A further series was rescued from Santander under the same initiative.

The RAGNARoCC dataset includes surface and deep ocean measurements of greenhouse gas concentrations including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. The dataset was collected in the North Atlantic Ocean during the RRS James Clark Ross cruise JR20140531 (JR302) which surveyed from Canada, to Greenland, to the United Kingdom via Iceland. The JR302 cruise started on 6th June 2014 and finished on 22nd July 2014. Some water samples were analysed aboard ship, whilst others were subsequently analysed ashore. The dataset is based on data and water samples collected by surface underway measurements and during CTD stations from the RRS James Clark Ross. The RAGNARoCC dataset was collected to understand the size and variability of the sources and sinks of greenhouse gases between the ocean and atmosphere in the North Atlantic Ocean. The dataset was produced by various members of the RAGNARoCC project consortium. Dr. Brian King was the cruise principal investigator for JR302. The data are made available by the British Oceanographic Data Centre, with relevant data also contributing to community research portals such as http://www.socat.info/. The dataset currently includes some of the data from cruise JR302, but is expected to include additional data from JR302. Additional data is also expected from the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Sustained Observatory (PAP-SO) mooring; the Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS) MV Benguela Stream; data from a Bay of Biscay Ferry-box route; and the RRS Discovery cruise DY040.

For around a decade, southern elephant seals (mirounga leonina) have been used to collect hydrographic (temperature & salinity) profiles in the Southern Ocean. CTD-SRDLs (Conductivity Temperature Depth –Satellite Relayed Data Loggers) attached to seals' heads in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic locations measure water property profiles during dives and transmit data using the ARGOS (Advanced Research & Global Observation Satellite) network (Fedak 2013). CTD-SRDLs are built by the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU, University of St Andrews, UK); they include miniaturised CTD units made by Valeport Ltd. When seals are foraging at sea 2.5 profiles can be obtained daily, on average. Profiles average 500m depth, but can be 2000m in extreme cases (Boehme et al. 2009, Roquet et al. 2011). Deployment efforts have been very intensive in the Southern Indian Ocean, with biannual campaigns in the Kerguelen Islands since 2004 and many deployments in Davis and Casey Antarctic stations (Roquet et al., 2013) more recently. 207 CTD-SRDL tags have been deployed there, giving about 75,000 hydrographic profiles in the Kerguelen Plateau area. About two thirds of the dataset was obtained between 2011 & 2013 as a consequence of intensive Australian Antarctic station deployments. There is also regular data since 2004 from French and Franco-Australian Kerguelen Island deployments. Although not included here, many CTD-SRDL tags deployed in the Kerguelen Islands included a fluorimeter. Fluorescence profiles can be used as a proxy for chlorophyll content (Guinet et al. 2013, Blain et al. 2013). Seal-derived hydrographic data have been used successfully to improve understanding of elephant seal foraging strategies and their success (Biuw et al., 2007, Bailleul, 2007). They provide detailed hydrographic observations in places and seasons with virtually no other data sources (Roquet et al. 2009, Ohshima et al. 2013, Roquet et al. 2013). Hydrographic data available in this dataset were edited using an Argo-inspired procedure and then visually. Each CTD-SRDL dataset was adjusted using several delayed-mode techniques, including a temperature offset correction and a linear-in-pressure salinity correction - described in Roquet et al. (2011). Adjusted hydrographic data have estimated accuracies of about +/-0.03oC and +/-0.05 psu (practical salinity unit). The salinity accuracy depends largely on the distribution of CTD data for any given CTD-SRDL, which decides the quality of adjustment parameters. Adjustments are best when hydrographic profiles are available in the region between the Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current Front and the Antarctic divergence (55oS-62oS latitude range in the Southern Indian Ocean). Several institutes provided funding for the associated programs and the logistics necessary for the fieldwork. The observatory MEMO (Mammifères Echantillonneurs du Milieu Marin), funded by CNRS institutes (INSU and INEE), carried out the French contribution to the study. The project received financial and logistical support from CNES (TOSCA program), the Institut Paul-Emile Victor (IPEV), the Total Foundation and ANR. MEMO is associated with the Coriolis centre, part of the SOERE consortium CTD02 (Coriolis-temps différé Observations Océaniques, PI: G. Reverdin), which distributes real-time and delayed-mode products. The Australian contribution came from the Australian Animal Tracking and Monitoring System, an Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) facility. The work was also supported by the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centres Programme via the Antarctic Climate & Ecosystem Cooperative Research Centre. The University of Tasmania and Macquarie University's Animal Ethics Committees approved the animal handling. Both tagging programs are part of the MEOP (Marine Mammals Exploring the Oceans Pole to Pole) international consortium - an International Polar Year (IPY) project.

A set of historical tide gauge sea level records from Santander (Northern Spain) have been recovered from logbooks stored at the Spanish National Geographical Institute (IGN). Sea level measurements have been digitised, quality-controlled and merged into a consistent sea level time series. Vertical references among instruments benchmarks have been derived from high precision vertical levelling surveys. The observations were recorded as daily averages and are from three different instruments in two locations in Santander (Spain). The historical sea level record in Santander consists of a daily time series spanning the period 1876-1924 and it is further connected to the modern tide gauge station nearby, ensuring datum continuity up to the present. The data from Santander comes from a floating gauge and then syphon gauges. This scarcity of long-term sea-level observations, as well as their uneven geographical distribution is a major challenge for climate studies that address, for example, the quantification of mean sea-level rise at centennial time scales, the accurate assessment of sea-level acceleration or the long-term changes in sea-level extremes that are vital for coastal risk assessments. This dataset represents an additional effort of sea-level data archaeology and aims at preserving the historical scientific heritage that has been up to now stored in old archives in non-electronic format. The research was partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. A further two series were rescued from Alicante under the same initiative.

This dataset contains wave data collected by surface moorings across three sites (D1, D2 and D3) west of the Isle of Islay between February 2012 and August 2012. There was a Datawell Mk.III directional Waverider buoy moored at each of the three sites collecting the wave data every 30 minutes. The data were collected as part of the metocean survey of the proposed Islay Offshore Windfarm. Partrac Ltd were contracted to conduct the data collection by SSE Renewables and provided the data to The Crown Estate as the landowner of the UK seabed out to 12 nautical miles. The data and associated metadata reports are held at the British Oceanographic Data Centre, as a MEDIN Data Archiving Centre.

This dataset contains tabulations of the heights and times of tidal high and low water at St. Helena from 1 October 1826 to 31 October 1827. The tide was recorded by an instrument designed by Manuel Johnson, a future President of the Royal Astronomical Society, while waiting for an observatory to be built. The tabulations in this dataset were obtained by inspection of photographs of Johnson's tabulation sheets that are held in the archive RGO 6/500 in the Royal Greenwich Observatory collection at Cambridge University Library. It is an important record in the history of tidal science, as the only previous measurements at St. Helena had been those made by Nevil Maskelyne in 1761, and there were to be no other systematic measurements until the late 20th century. Johnson’s tide gauge, of a curious but unique design, recorded efficiently the height of every tidal high and low water for at least 13 months, in spite of requiring frequent re-setting. These heights compare very reasonably with a modern tidal synthesis based on present-day tide gauge measurements from the same site. Johnson’s method of timing is unknown, but his calculations of lunar phases suggest that his tidal measurements were recorded in Local Apparent Time. Unfortunately, the recorded times are found to be seriously and variably lagged by many minutes. Johnson’s data have never been fully published, but his manuscripts have been safely archived and are available for inspection at Cambridge University. His data have been converted to computer files as part of this study for the benefit of future researchers. This dataset supports the paper “Cartwright, D.E.; Woodworth, P.L.; Ray, R.D.. 2017 Manuel Johnson's tide record at St. Helena. History of Geo- and Space Sciences”. Richard Ray (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and Philip Woodworth (National Oceanography Centre) modified and added figures to David E. Cartwright’s original draft paper and sections of text have been updated, but otherwise the paper is as he intended it. This work was undertaken when Philip Woodworth was an Honorary Research Fellow at the National Oceanography Centre in Liverpool in receipt of an Emeritus Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust. Part of this work was funded by UK Natural Environment Research Council National Capability funding.