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 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 dataset comprises measurements of hydrographic, bathymetric, sedimentary and meteorological parameters. These include water currents, temperature, salinity and wave parameters; suspended and seabed sediment; coastal geomorphological characteristics; and atmospheric temperature, pressure, humidity, irradiance and wind velocities. The study area was centred on the tidal inlet within the Peninsula do Ancao, Ria Formosa National Park, Algarve, Portugal. Field measurements were collected in the offshore area, the surf zone, beach experiments, the inlet areas and the inlet mouth between January and March 1999. The study utilised moorings, sediment grabs, tidal predictions, radar systems, acoustic Doppler current profiler (ACDP) surveys, a jack-up barge, beach experiments, video tower images, aerial surveys, seabed photographs and field campaign images. INDIA aimed to gain a better understanding of the interactions between tides, waves, currents and sedimentary processes at work in the European coastal zone with a view to predicting change. INDIA was coordinated by the University of Liverpool, Department of Civil Engineering. Data have been provided and/or modelled by a number of organisations from countries including France, Poland, Portugal, Australia, Netherlands, USA and the UK. Data management support for the project was provided by the British Oceanographic Data Centre. All data collected as part of the project were lodged with BODC who had responsibility for assembling and fully documenting the data.

The dataset comprises physical, biogeochemical and biological oceanographic, surface meteorological and benthic measurements. Hydrographic profiles including temperature, salinity, fluorescence, transmissance and suspended sediment concentration were collected at numerous stations, while surface hydrographic (fluorescence, transmissance, sea surface temperature, salinity) and meteorological (irradiance, air temperature, humidity, wind speed/direction) data were collected across the survey areas. Sediment, pore water and water column samples were also collected for biogeochemical analysis, as were biological samples for the purposes of species classification and abundance analyses. The data were collected across the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Pakistan margin areas between March and October 2003. Data collection was undertaken by the RRS Charles Darwin during four cruises: CD145 (12 March 2003 to 9 April 2003), CD146 (12 April 2003 to 30 May 2003), CD150 (22 August 2003 to 15 September 2003) and CD151 (17 September 2003 to 20 October 2003). Conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) profilers with auxiliary sensors, benthic samplers and nets were deployed from the ship, while underway sensors provided continuous surface ocean, meteorological and bathymetric data. The study was designed to investigate an oxygen-minimum zone (OMZ) in the northern Arabian Sea. Chief Investigators include Gregory L Cowie (University of Edinburgh School of GeoSciences) and Brian J Bett (Southampton Oceanography Centre), while other institutions including the Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory, University of Liverpool and Netherlands Institute of Ecology were also involved in the research. Data management is being undertaken by BODC. Some of the data are still undergoing processing at BODC and further data are expected from originators in the future.

The dataset contains hydrographic and biogeochemical data, including continuous underway measurements of surface temperature, salinity, nutrients, chlorophyll and attenuance, irradiance and bathymetric depth. Underway dissolved oxygen and/or trace metal measurements were also collected on occasion. Hydrographic profiles of temperature, salinity, transmittance, fluorescence, dissolved oxygen (data often of poor quality) and scalar irradiance were undertaken, and associated water samples were routinely analysed for suspended particulate material (SPM), chlorophyll, nutrients and particulate organic carbon/particulate organic nitrogen (POC/PON). In addition, dissolved and particulate trace metals, production, contaminants, dissolved organic carbon/total dissolved nitrogen (DOC/TDN) were determined in some cases. Benthic measurements were also collected, including benthic flux determinations (microcosm experiments), sediment characterisation, pore water chemistry measurements and the quantification of the benthic macrofauna. The coastal oceanographic data set was collected along the east coast of England between Great Yarmouth and Berwick upon Tweed. Data were collected between December 1992 and July 1995 during a series of 17 RRS Challenger cruise legs. Most cruises covered two survey grids: one from Great Yarmouth to the Humber designed around the distribution of the sandbanks and a second simple zig-zag grid from the Humber to Berwick on Tweed. A large number of anchor stations, usually over one or two tidal cycles, were worked in the vicinity of the Humber mouth or the Holderness coast. Each cruise leg returned underway data and conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) data and water bottle rosette samples from grid nodes. A Lasentech in-situ particle sizer was used to obtain grain size distributions at spot depths for each CTD station on many of the cruise legs. Box and multicorer samples were collected on approximately one third of the cruise legs. The River-Atmosphere-Coast Study (RACS) was the component of the Land Ocean Interaction Study (LOIS) programme looking at processes from the river catchment into the coastal sea. Investigators include representatives of Plymouth University, Southampton University, Liverpool University, University of East Anglia, Newcastle University, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, and the University of Wales, Bangor. All data sets collected during the RACS Challenger cruises are held by the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC). All underway and CTD data have been fully calibrated and quality controlled by BODC. The water sample and benthic data sets have been quality controlled by the data originators and submitted to BODC. The data are held in the BODC project database and have been published as part of a fully documented CD-ROM product.

The dataset contains a diverse range of environmental data ranging from estuary properties including geomorphology, water depth and habitat characterisation to detailed time series of parameters such as salinity and chemical and nutrient concentrations. The data are stored in a database containing a directory of existing data sources for estuaries; data for the broad properties of 79 UK estuaries; and detailed hydrodynamic, bathymetric, and sedimentary information for six estuaries: Blackwater, Humber, Mersey, Ribble, Southampton Water and Tamar. The data range from 1965 to 2002 and include both historic datasets and those collected during a recent effort (1997-2002) to enhance our knowledge of estuaries. Data collection employed a variety of instrumentation and techniques, including water, biota and sediment sample collection and analysis and the deployment of hydrographic instruments such as sea level, temperature, salinity and optical backscatter recorders. The Estuaries Research Programme (ERP) began in 1997 with the EMPHASYS project, which aimed to improve our understanding of processes operating in estuaries and use this knowledge to enhance broad scale modelling techniques that can be applied to estuarine processes. This work was funded by the Environment Agency/Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Flood and Coastal Defence Research and Development Programme. The data are managed by the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) and are available on CD-ROM.

This dataset includes physical, biological and biogeochemical measurements of both the water column and seabed sediments. Hydrographic data include temperature, salinity, attenuance, dissolved oxygen, fluorescence, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), sound velocity and current velocities, while biogeochemical analyses of water samples provided measurements of nutrients and biological sampling provided measurements of zooplankton abundance. A large number of benthic parameters were measured, including concentrations of substances such as nutrients, metals and carbon in both sediments and sediment pore waters. Benthic fauna were also studied, while rates of sedimentation flux were quantified. These oceanographic and benthic data were supplemented by satellite ocean colour imagery. The data were collected in the North Atlantic Ocean at the Mouth of Rockall Trough, Hatton-Rockall Basin and the Flank of Feni Drift between August 1997 and June 1999 over four cruises, comprising a preliminary site assessment (CD 107 August, 1997) followed by two process cruises (CD 111, April-May 1998, and CD 113, June-July 1998). A further cruise (CH 143) was part-funded by BENBO to retrieve moorings. The data were collected using a variety of instrumentation, including shipboard deployment of conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) profilers with attached auxiliary sensors, benthic samplers, landers, cameras and incubation chambers, water samplers and continuous underway sensors. These were supplemented by moored sensor and satellite data. The BENBO programme was led by the Scottish Association for Marine Science/Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory involved researchers from Southampton Oceanography Centre, Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Lancaster University, Leeds University, Edinburgh University, Cambridge University and the University of Wales, Bangor.

The dataset includes a wide range of physical, chemical and biological oceanographic parameters. Physical hydrographic measurements include temperature, salinity, optical backscatter, current velocities and turbulence, while biogeochemical measurements in the water column include dissolved oxygen, organic carbon and nitrogen, and nutrients. Biogeochemical parameters were also measured in sediment cores, while phytoplankton and zooplankton data were also collected. The marine data were supplemented by meteorological measurements including temperature, pressure, irradiance and wind. The experimental phase of the project was undertaken in the North Sea between 1998 and 1999, and data were collected at two contrasting sites: Northern North Sea (NNS, 59deg 20.0E, 1deg 00.0E) and Southern North Sea (SNS, 52deg 15.0N, 4deg 17.0E). At both locations measurements were concentrated at a central position with additional measurements being made to estimate horizontal gradients. Moored instruments were deployed at NNS from September - November 1998 and at SNS from March - May 1999. Each experiment was supported by intensive measurement series made from oceanographic ships and involving turbulence dissipation profiler, conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) profilers, particle size profilers, optical profilers, benthic sampling and water bottle sampling. PROVESS is an interdisciplinary study of the vertical fluxes of properties through the water column and the surface and bottom boundary layers with the aim of improving understanding and quantification of vertical exchange processes in the water column. Scientists from 18 institutions distributed in 8 European countries participated in the fieldwork and modelling parts of the programme and was co-ordinated by John Howarth of the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory. The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) is responsible for assembling the data collected during the project into a comprehensive data set. The data has been organised onto a CD-ROM product available through BODC.

The data set comprises a diverse collection of physical, chemical and biological measurements, encompassing well over 1000 parameters. There are data from over 1000 conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD)/rosette stations, over 440 core profiles, over 180 sediment trap samples, over 140 net hauls and much, much more. The primary study area was a box extending to the base of the slope from Vigo to Cap Finistere. However, data are included from both further offshore (filament tracking) and from the Portuguese Margin. Measurements were taken from November 1996 to October 1999 during 33 cruise legs, involving research vessels from seven nations. Data were collected using a variety of equipment and techniques, including expendable bathythermographs (XBTs), turbulence probes, CTDs and oceanographic undulators with auxiliary sensors. These hydrographic profiles were accompanied by net hauls, plankton recorder deployments, sediment cores and a comprehensive water sampling programmes during which a wide variety of chemical and biological parameters were measured. The station data were supplemented by underway measurements of oceanographic and meteorological properties. Results from production and phosphate uptake experiments are also included in the dataset, as are bathymetric data from multibeam (swath) surveys, coastal upwelling measurements and data from moored instruments and benthic landers. The dataset also includes imagery from satellites, seabed photography and X-ray photographs of core samples. The aim of the project was study biogeochemical processes at the shelf break and to quantify the fluxes of material between the shelf and the open ocean. The project brought together over 100 scientists from 40 research centres and universities throughout Europe. The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) is assembling the data sets collected during OMEX II into its project database system and the data set is also available on CD-ROM.

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.