The data set comprises more than 7000 time series of ocean currents from moored instruments. The records contain horizontal current speed and direction and often concurrent temperature data. They may also contain vertical velocities, pressure and conductivity data. The majority of data originate from the continental shelf seas around the British Isles (for example, the North Sea, Irish Sea, Celtic Sea) and the North Atlantic. Measurements are also available for the South Atlantic, Indian, Arctic and Southern Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea. Data collection commenced in 1967 and is currently ongoing. Sampling intervals normally vary between 5 and 60 minutes. Current meter deployments are typically 2-8 weeks duration in shelf areas but up to 6-12 months in the open ocean. About 25 per cent of the data come from water depths of greater than 200m. The data are processed and stored by the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) and a computerised inventory is available online. Data are quality controlled prior to loading to the databank. Data cycles are visually inspected by means of a sophisticated screening software package. Data from current meters on the same mooring or adjacent moorings can be overplotted and the data can also be displayed as time series or scatter plots. Series header information accompanying the data is checked and documentation compiled detailing data collection and processing methods.

This dataset comprises hydrographic data from conductivity and temperature sensors deployed at fixed intervals on moorings within the water column or close to the sea bed on benthic frames. The measurements were collected at five sites within the Faroe – Shetland channel during the FS Poseidon cruise PO328 between 07 and 23 September 2005. The data have been processed, quality controlled and made available by the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC). The data were collected as part of the Slope Mixing Experiment, a Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (POL) core Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded project, which aimed to estimate slope mixing and its effects on waters in the overturning circulation. Detailed in situ measurements of mixing in the water column) were to be combined with fine resolution 3-D and process models. The experiment was lead by POL, in collaboration with the School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor; the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS); the University of Highlands and Islands and the Institute of Marine Studies (IMS) at the University of Plymouth. The Slope Mixing Experiment dataset also includes conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) profiles, moored Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP), vessel mounted ADCP sensors as well as 3-D and process models. These data are not available from BODC.

The MeRMEED project aimed to determine and quantify how the interaction between mesoscale eddies and the steep slope along ocean western boundaries affects the dissispation of mesoscale eddies in these regions. The project comprised of a multi-platfrom programme involving ship-based and mooring-based obverations, including autonomous gliders, vertical microstructure profilers, CTDs and ADCPs. The MeRMEED project was run between 2015-2019, and focussed on the slope offshore of Great Abaco, Bahamas. The data contained in this dataset includes the data associated with three MeRMEED research expeditions aboard the R/V Walton Smith from 2016-12-01 to 2018-03-16. The data includes vertical microstructure profiler (VMP) measurements of the turbulent dissipation rate and temperature variance, profiles of temperature and conductivity from a CTD sensor attached to the VMP, and along-track meridional and zonal velocity profiles from a vessel mounted 75 kHz ADCP. Also included are two 75 KHz ADCPs mounted on the existing RAPID/MOCHA Western Boundary 1 mooring. The project was run by Eleanor Frajka-Williams (project PI) and Dafydd Gwyn Evans (post-doc) and funded by NERC Discovery Science grant NE/N001745/1.

Rothera Oceanographic and Biological Time Series (RaTS) in Antarctica began in 1997 and involves regular sampling of the water column undertaken by CTD (conductivity, temperature and depth) casts with associated collection of discrete water samples and the deployment of four moorings. The RaTS site is located in Marguerite Bay, approximately 4 km from shore and over a water depth of approximately 520 m. Marguerite Bay is enclosed by Adelaide Island to the north, Alexander Island to the south and the Antarctic Peninsula to the east. When optimal conditions are not available a secondary site is occupied. In times when fast ice prevents sampling at both the primary and secondary site, a third site is utilised close to the Rothera Research Station. However, only a water sample is collected during this time as the water is too shallow to allow for a cast to be conducted. An upper ocean CTD cast is made every five days in the summer and every seven days in the winter, except when weather, ice or logistic constraints intervene. A CTD unit is lowered from an inflatable boat by use of a hand-cranked winch during summer months and through a hole in the ice during the winter. As well as conductivity, temperature and depth other variables measured from the CTD cast include fluorescence and down-welling irradiance. Measurements are typically binned to 1 metre increments with a varying maximum depth typically ranging between 200 and 500 metres. Subsequent data processing involves the calculation of salinity from the conductivity channel (applying the UNESCO 1983 algorithm), calculation of chlorophyll from raw fluorescence and calibration, plus calculating depth from the pressure output. Discrete water samples are taken from a depth of 15 m using a Niskin bottle closed with a brass messenger. Water samples collected are measured for macronutrients (nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, ammonia and silicate), chlorophyll (both whole and size fractionated), dissolved oxygen isotopes, dissolved organic carbon and microbial community analysis. There are two extended periods during which no data could be collected. August to December, in both 2000 and 2001. In 2000, there was an unusually extended period of unfavourable ice conditions which were too heavy for boat operations and unsafe for sledge operations. Then in the period during 2001 a fire occurred which resulted in loss of use of the laboratory at Rothera. It was not possible to restart observations until replacement equipment arrived with the relief of the Rothera Research Station the following December. The mooring deployments took place in January 2005 (13 months), February 2006 (10 months) and December 2006 (4 months). A further mooring was deployed in the Marguerite trough in January 2005 for approximately 13 months. Mooring instrumentation included current meters, acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCP), temperature and depth recorders, a CTD and a sediment trap. These sensors were strung out from the surface down to approximately 390 m (sediment trap). Data was collected in 15 minute intervals from the ADCP and once every hour from all the other sensors. Data processing included calibration of the pressure, conductivity and pressure channels and calculation of salinity (from conductivity channel) and depth (from pressure channel). This time series is continuously monitored by the British Antarctic Survey in an attempt to gain a suite of oceanographic data which provide an environmental background to aid interpretation of the near-shore marine ecology and to test a series of broad hypothesis concerned with pelagic-benthic coupling and environmental forcing of the near-shore oceanographic environment. The project has previously been managed by Prof. Andrew Clarke and Prof. Mike Meredith. At present (November 2021), the project and dataset is directed and managed by Mr. Hugh Venables of the British Antarctic Survey and data are available on request from the British Oceanographic Data Centre.

This dataset comprises a time series of measurements of water current, temperature, conductivity, and pressure from instruments deployed at various depths in the Orkney Passage from 2007 onwards. The instruments were deployed in sub surface oceanographic moorings at fixed locations, in order to monitor the transport of Weddell Sea Deep Water (ESDW), a precursor to Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW), flowing northward from the Weddell Sea into the Scotia Sea. For 2007-2011 data are typically at hourly resolution; in subsequent years, most instruments are sampling at 10 minutes' resolution. The moorings are deployed in water depths ranging between approx. 1750 and 3670 metres, with instrument depths between 1250 and 3660 metres. This time series originally started out as part of the British Antarctic Survey's Long-Term Monitoring and Survey (LTMS) programme, led by Keith Nicholls; from 2016 it is continuing as part of the Ocean Regulation of Climate by Heat and Carbon Sequestration and Transports (ORCHESTRA) project, led by Emily Shuckburgh (British Antarctic Survey) and Dynamics of the Orkney Passage Outflow (DyNOPO) led by Alberto Naveira Garabato (National Oceanography Centre). Additional support for mooring instrumentation has come from NOAA through their Ocean Climate Observation Program, Weddell Sea Moorings project, PI's Bruce Huber and Arnold Gordon, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University. The mooring work is currently led and coordinated by Povl Abrahamsen at the British Antarctic Survey. The data are subject to a two year organisational moratorium from collection after which they become publically available.

The dataset comprises 112 hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, within the North East Atlantic Ocean area. It incorporates part of the Ellett Line section east of the Anton Dohrn Seamount, plus a large number of sections across the shelf between the North Channel and Cape Wrath. The data were collected during November and December of 1981. 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 Scottish Marine Biological Association.

This dataset comprises 117 hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, during August - September 1987. It incorporates tidal cycle time series from the Irish Sea between Anglesey and the Isle of Man. Irish Sea and North Channel CTD sections from Wigtown Bay to Sellafield, Copeland to Portpatrick, Larne to Stranraer and Kintyre to Antrim. Scottish Shelf CTD sections west of Islay, from Mull to Shelf Edge, north from Butt of Lewis, Eddrachillis Bay to Broad Bay, and Loch Seaforth to Loch Gairloch. A CTD survey of the Wyville Thompson Ridge and surrounding areas of the NE Atlantic. 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 Scottish Marine Biological Association as part of the North Atlantic Norwegian Sea Exchange (NANSEN) project.

This dataset comprises hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, in March 1986. It incorporates a CTD survey of the Faroe Shetland Channel including the section from Fair Isle to Munken Rock and sections of the crest of the Faroe Bank. CTD sections in the North Channel from Corsewall to Sanda, Copeland to Portpatrick and Antrim to Kintyre plus a CTD survey of the Clyde Sea. 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 Scottish Marine Biological Association.

The dataset comprises 119 hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, within the North East Atlantic Ocean area. It incorporates the Ellett Line section between the Anton Dohrn Seamount and Mull; a CTD survey from the mainland to Lewis; a CTD survey of the shelf west of Islay, the North Channel and the Clyde Sea. The data were collected during January of 1987. 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 Scottish Marine Biological Association.

The dataset comprises 182 hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, within the North East Atlantic Ocean area. It incorporates the Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory Rockall via Anton Dohrn Seamount (Ellett Line) section, plus sections in the North Channel; westward from Islay; between Hebridean islands and the mainland; between the Outer Hebrides and the shelf edge and an extensive grid of stations in the Firth of Clyde and Kilbrannan Sound. The data were collected during May 1985. 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 Scottish Marine Biological Association.