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.

The data set comprises trace metal and isotope data from the GEOTRACES programme. The data set incorporates the core GEOTRACES parameters for example, Iron (Fe), Aluminum (Al), Zinc (Zn), Manganese (Mn), Cadmium (Cd), Copper (Cu), delta 15 Nitrogen, delta 13 Carbon, Thorium (Th) isotopes, Protactinium(Pa) isotopes, Lead (Pb) isotopes, Neodymium (Nd) isotopes and aerosols, These data are also supported by ancillary measurements. GEOTRACES is global in scope and consists of ocean sections complemented by regional process studies. The ocean sections are designed to cross regions that provide the most information about sources, sinks and internal cycling of trace elements and isotopes (TEIs). The programme started in 2006, with the first International Polar Year - GEOTRACES cruise, and aims to study all major ocean basins over the next decade. Advances in clean sampling protocols and analytical techniques provide an unprecedented capability for measurement of a wide range of TEIs. All measurements collected for GEOTRACES will use ultra clean techniques as many of the countries involved have built specialist winches, wires and conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) units specifically for this programme. SAFe standards (standards developed following the Sampling and Analysis of Fe (SAFe) cruise) and GEOTRACES inter-calibration protocols provide quality control.The GEOTRACES programme builds on the data collected during the Geochemical Ocean Section Study (GEOSECS) in the 1970s. The potential afforded by advances in sampling protocol and analytical techniques had not been realized since then, largely because of a lack of coordinated research. The GEOTRACES programme includes scientists from approximately 30 nations, although the key countries are the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Sweden, Netherlands, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, India and China.

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).

This dataset comprises the following water body parameters: pressure; density; salinity; temperature; fluorescence; oxygen; dissolved inorganic nutrients; dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC); particulate carbon (PC); particulate organic carbon (POC); particulate nitrogen (PN); alkalinity; pH; chlorophyll; photosynthetically active radiation (PAR); delta 15 N isotopic composition of PN and nitrate; delta 13 C isotopic composition of POC; delta 18 O isotopic composition of nitrate; ratio of oxygen isotopes. This dataset also includes dissolved inorganic nutrients in sediment pore water, and major and minor element concentrations in sediment. Data were sampled on the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), more specifically in Ryder and Marguerite Bays. Measurements were obtained from either in situ sensors, samples collected by box coring, or by Niskin bottles mounted on the CTD rosette of RRS James Clark Ross during cruises JR20141231 (JR307, JR308) and JR15003 which took place from 31 December 2014 to 07 January 2015 and from 17 December 2015 to 13 January 2016 respectively. Samples were also collected from Niskin bottles deployed with a hand-cranked winch or 12 V electric bilge pump from a rigid-hulled inflatable boat between 16 November 2013 and 21 March 2016. Sediment samples were analysed for major and minor element composition by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy at the School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh. This research project aimed to examine the ways in which ongoing climate change and sea ice decline at the WAP impact upon nutrient budgets and biogeochemical cycling throughout the region, and to trace the movement and modification of circumpolar deep water across the WAP shelf and its influence on macronutrient and inorganic carbon supply to productive coastal regions. Data were generated by Sian Henley (University of Edinburgh), Hugh Venables and Michael Meredith (British Antarctic Survey), Elizabeth Jones (University of Groningen), Katharine Hendry (University of Bristol), and Yvonne Firing (NOC Southampton), with funding from NERC Independent Research Fellowship (NE/K010034/1), the University of Edinburgh School of Geosciences, the British Antarctic Survey Polar Oceans Program, the Netherlands Polar Program (NOW), British Antarctic Survey CGS-109, and NERC NC Funding for SR1b repeat transect (PI Firing). Additional contributors to the dataset were Malcolm Woodward (Plymouth Marine Laboratory), Melanie Leng (British Geological Survey) and Colin Chilcott and Nicholas Odling (University of Edinburgh).

The Ocean Regulation of Climate by Heat and Carbon Sequestration and Transports (ORCHESTRA) data set comprises hydrographic data, including measurements of temperature, salinity and currents, complemented by bathymetric, meteorological and stable isotope data. The study area was the South Atlantic Ocean and Southern Ocean, including the Weddell and Scotia Seas and Drake Passage. The data were collected by research cruises, beginning March 2016. Shipboard data collection involved the deployment of conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) packages and Lowered Acoustic Doppler Profilers (LADCP) in the study area. Continuous measurements of current velocities (using vessel mounted ADCPs, VMADCPs), bathymetry and surface ocean and meteorological properties were collected throughout each cruise. The ORCHESTRA programme aims to advance the understanding of, and capability to predict, the Southern Ocean's impact on climate change via its uptake and storage of heat and carbon. It represents the first fully unified activity by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) institutes as part of the Long-Term Multi-centre Science (LTMS) along with other UK research institutes, more specifically the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), National Oceanography Centre (NOC), British Geological Survey (BGS), Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU), Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM) and the Met Office Hadley Centre. The programme was divided into three Work Packages with the following Principal Investigators for each: WP1 (Interaction of the Southern Ocean with the atmosphere), led by Liz Kent from NOC; WP2 (Exchange between the upper ocean mixed layer and the interior), led by Dave Munday from BAS and WP3 (Exchange between the Southern Ocean and the global ocean), led by Yvonne Firing from NOC. The overall programme is led by Andrew Meijers from BAS. The majority of the data will be managed by the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC), with a minority of data sets being submitted to the BAS Polar Data Centre (BAS-PDC) and atmospheric data from MASIN aircrafts submitted to the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA).

The Dynamics of Orkney Passage Outflow (DynOPO) project data set comprises physical oceanographic and hydrographic data, including measurements of turbulence, temperature, salinity and currents, complemented by bathymetric and meteorological data. Data were collected within the Orkney Passage by means of moorings and ship-launched instrumentation. RRS James Clark Ross cruise JR20150309 (JR310 & JR272D) ran from 09 March to 14 April 2015. It was not explicitly a DynOPO cruise, rather it undertook the deployment of a mooring for the project. Moorings were deployed in groups of 5 on CTD casts. RRS James Clark Ross cruise JR16005 ran from 17 March to 08 May 2017 and was the primary fieldwork element of the DynOPO project. The cruise had two main goals: (1) to conduct measurements of the hydrographic properties, velocity and turbulent processes of the Antarctic Bottom Water outflow along its pathway through the Orkney Passage region; and (2) to turn around a set of long-term moorings deployed in the area by British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) scientists, including recovery of additional instruments on some of the moorings deployed by DynOPO 2 years previously. Shipboard data collection involved the deployment of conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) packages and Lowered Acoustic Doppler Profilers (LADCP) in the study area. Continuous measurements of current velocities (using vessel mounted ADCPs, VMADCPs), bathymetry and surface ocean and meteorological properties were collected throughout. The project received funding under NERC Standard Grants NE/K013181/1 and NE/K012843/1. The lead grant, NE/K013181/1, received funding between 31 March 2015 and 29 February 2020 and was led by Professor Alberto Naveira Garabato (University of Southampton, School of ocean and Earth Science). Grant NE/K013181/1 received funding between 01 October 2014 and 30 November 2018 and was led by Professor Michael Meredith (NERC British Antarctic Survey, Science Programmes). Mooring data collected for the DynOPO project are a component of a long term time series, in association with the Ocean Regulation of Climate by Heat and Carbon Sequestration and Transports (ORCHESTRA) project, led by Emily Shuckburgh (British Antarctic Survey) since 2016. The time series originally started out as part of the British Antarctic Survey's Long-Term Monitoring and Survey (LTMS) programme, led by Keith Nicholls. Information about the time series can be found at https://www.bodc.ac.uk/resources/inventories/edmed/report/6565/ and the ORCHESTRA project https://www.bodc.ac.uk/resources/inventories/edmed/report/6618/ . The majority of the data have been received by the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) as raw files, processed and will be available online in the near future. Remaining data, which will be received in the near future, include: Turbulence, CTD, ADCP, currents, and salinity samples.

The Northern Seas Programme dataset comprises hydrographic, biogeochemical, biological and meteorological data. Hydrographic profiles provided measurements of parameters such as temperature, salinity, fluorescence and dissolved oxygen, while current velocities and acoustic backscatter were also measured. A comprehensive water sampling program permitted the collection of biogeochemical data including concentrations of various organic compounds, dissolved gas concentrations and radioactivity. Water samples were also analysed for phytoplankton, zooplankton and viruses. Larger biological samples were obtained from the water column using trawl nets and cetacean distributions were monitored using hydrophone arrays. Sediment samples were collected at various locations and analysed for biogeochemical parameters and zoobenthos. Sample data were supplemented by those derived from experiments, while bathymetry and meteorological parameters were measured across the study area. Data collection was undertaken in the Irish and northern North Seas, across the NE Atlantic and up to the marginal Arctic pack ice zone. This includes the territorial waters of the UK, Norway and the Russian Arctic, and extends from coastal fjords to the ocean margins. The data were collected during the period 2001-2007 over a number of cruises: RRS Discovery cruise D257, RRS James Clark Ross cruises JR75 and JR127, RRS Charles Darwin cruise CD176 and FS Poseidon cruise PO300/2. Measurements were taken using a variety of instrumentation, including conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) profilers with attached auxiliary sensors, bathymetric echosounders, sediment samplers, trawl nets and acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs), while incubation chambers were used for shipboard experiments. The programme was designed to advance the understanding of how marine systems in Northern Seas respond to environmental and anthropogenic change and was developed in three themes: Theme A - Understanding fjordic systems insights for coastal and oceanic processes; Theme B - Ocean Margins: the interface between the coastal zone and oceanic realm; Theme C - Measuring and modelling change: sea sensors and bioinformatics. Theme B included the Ellett Line Time Series. The Northern Seas Programme was co-ordinated by the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS). Data from the programme are held at the British Oceanographic Data Centre.

The dataset comprises a diverse set of physical, chemical and biological data including: bacteria, carbon, chlorophyll, dissolved gases, light levels, nutrients, phytoplankton, productivity, respiration, salinity, temperature, trace elements and zooplankton. Measurements were gathered from the North Atlantic and Norwegian fjord waters between 1971 and 1998. The data arise from three sources: biological and hydrographic data collected between 1971 and 1975 at Ocean Weather Ship (OWS) India in the North Atlantic; conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) casts, water samples, net samples and meteorological data from the four week Bergen Mesocosm experiment at Espegrend Marine Biological Field Station (Norway) in 1995; and the six week RRS Discovery cruise 221 to the North East Atlantic in 1996, where physical, chemical and biological data were collected. The data were collected using a variety of methods including: more than 500 CTD and SeaSoar profiles; nearly 1000 water bottle samples; over 600 net hauls; over 450 Secchi disk deployments; nearly 4000 multisizer samples; 23 production experiments; four drifting buoy tracks and 40 days of weather observations. The PRIME programme aimed to lay the basis for mathematical models to describe the role of plankton in biogeochemical fluxes within the oceans which have implications for climate regulation. The project was hosted by the School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor. Data management was undertaken by the British Oceanographic Data Centre and over 95% of the data collected are now assembled on a CD-ROM. The data are accompanied by an extensive users' guide (covering sampling protocol documentation), the structures used to store the data, and the data interrogation tools.

The Fluxes Across Sloping Topography of the North East Atlantic (FASTNEt) data set comprises a diverse collection of oceanographic (largely physical and chemical) observations, together with model simulation output. FASTNEt data were collected from three principal localities in close proximity to the UK’s Shelf Edge – the Celtic Sea, the Malin Shelf and the North Scotland Shelf. Each of these were chosen for contrasting bathymetric properties and associated slope current characteristics. There were two main research cruises associated with FASTNEt. These took place in the summers of 2012 and 2013. The core observations include measurements of temperature, salinity, nutrients, currents and shear harvested from a suite of instrumentation including CTDs, ocean gliders (as well as other Autonomous Underwater Vehicles), drifter buoys and moored sensors. The FASTNEt data set aims to develop new parameterisations of shelf edge exchange processes, which will benefit future ocean modelling and forecasting exercises. Additional observations were made from moored instrumentation and autonomous platforms (including ocean gliders, AUVs and drifter buoys) adding to the temporal and spatial coverage of the core cruise data sets. The FASTNEt data set was compiled in order to improve understanding of the processes of physical and biogeochemical exchange at shelf edge margins. These margins are important gateways for the supply of nutrients to our shallow shelf seas, with implications for biodiversity and fishery resources. The NERC FASTNEt Consortium brings together scientists from various UK research centres including the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), National Oceanography Centre (NOC) and the Universities of Bangor, Liverpool and Plymouth.

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.