The COMICS (Controls over Ocean Mesopelagic Interior Carbon Storage) project consists of observations, at sea, of particle flux and stable isotopes. It applies organic geochemical and molecular biological techniques to samples collected using nets and traps. The study areas are the tropical Atlantic and Southern Oceans. The results will be combined with models to quantify the flow of carbon in the ocean’s ‘twilight’ zone in order to accurately model global climate change. This ‘twilight’ zone is the part of the ocean between 100m and 1000m below the sea surface, where only a small amount of light from the sun can still penetrate. By investigating carbon dynamics in the ocean interior, COMICS will help to improve predictions of future global climate change. The COMICS project is led by the National Oceanography Centre and is a collaboration between the British Antarctic Survey and the universities of Queen Mary London, Liverpool, Oxford and Southampton. The project received funding from the Natural Environmental Research Council and runs between 2017 and 2022.

The Marine Productivity (MarProd) programme data set comprises physical, biological and biogeochemical data, including hydrographic profiles (temperature, salinity, fluorescence, dissolved oxygen, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR)), and samples of nutrients, suspended particulate material, dissolved material, phytoplankton and zooplankton. These data were supplemented by continuous underway measurements of bathymetry, surface hydrography (temperature, salinity, fluorescence and attenuance), meteorology (wind speed and direction, PAR and total incident irradiance, air temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure), remote sensing of sea surface temperature and ocean colour, and by production experiments. The data were collected in UK shelf seas and the North Atlantic Ocean between 2000 and 2002. Surface biogeochemical parameters (nutrients, photosynthesis, production, suspended particulate material and dissolved organic material) were measured during cruises in the Irish Sea in May, June and July 2001, while ongoing hydrographic and plankton time-series at Plymouth Marine Laboratory's L4 sampling station are also included in the data set. However, the bulk of the data were collected during a major fieldwork campaign of four dedicated research cruises on RRS Discovery between November 2001 and December 2002. A total of over 800 gear deployments were performed at 159 stations mainly distributed in the Irminger Sea and Iceland Basin, facilitating the measurement of water mass distribution, velocity field and mixed layer properties. A comprehensive water sampling programme was undertaken for the purposes of plant pigment and microscopic analyses; biomass estimations of different taxonomic/functional groups of microplankton (picoplankton, phytoplankton and microzooplankton); high resolution profiles of inorganic nutrient concentrations; and determination of abundance of key zooplankton species (Calanus finmarchicus, Oithona spp. and euphausiids). Process studies were undertaken to obtain information about factors controlling the reproduction, growth, mortality and behaviour of individual species using physiological studies (feeding experiments, egg production and nauplii development, species interactions) and analyses of biochemical composition (lipids and hormones studies, analyses of carbon/nitrogen and stable isotope ratios composition). Phytoplankton primary production was measured using carbon uptake on the last two cruises and additional data were collected using a Fast Repetition Rate Fluorometer (FRRF) through continuous surface underway sampling and vertical deployments. MarProd's main objective was to investigate the population dynamics of key zooplankton species in UK shelf seas and in the northern Atlantic with emphasis on the manner in which physical factors such as water temperature and oceanic currents influence their distribution, abundance and productivity. The MarProd Programme involved researchers from numerous institutions from the UK, Ireland and Spain. The data are archived at the British Oceanographic Data Centre.

This cross-disciplinary project resulted in a diverse data catalogue. This includes meteorology (2-D wind speed and direction, total irradiance, Photosynthetically Active Radiation/PAR, air temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity); atmospheric composition (chemical analyses of aerosol particle composition) and biological, chemical and physical properties and processes in the photic zone (optical properties of the water column; chlorophyll concentration; photosynthetic pigment composition; primary production; bacterial production; phytoplankton and bacterial speciation; concentrations of biogenic trace compounds such as iodocarbons, methyl bromide, dimethyl sulphide/DMS and dimethyl sulphoniopropionate/DMSP; trace gas production; plankton community composition; nutrient concentration; concentrations of trace metals such as iron; salinity; temperature; Dissolved Organic Matter - particulate carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus; phytoplankton growth rates, grazing mortality and viral lysis; ammonium regeneration, nitrification and nitrogen fixation; gross production, net community production and dark community respiration; zooplankton ecology). The fieldwork included two dedicated research cruises in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean, spanning the period April - May 2004. Measurements of nutrient cycling and biological activity were monitored prior to and after deployment (IN stations) of patches fertilised with iron and phosphate relative to several (OUT stations) controls. Measurements were taken using a variety of instrumentation, including conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) profilers with attached auxiliary sensors and acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs), while incubation chambers were used for shipboard experiments. Samples were collected with Niskin bottles attached to the CTD frame at different depths in the water column and samples analysed onboard or preserved for analysis back in the laboratory. The FeeP data set was intended to advance understanding of how the supply and mutual interactions between iron and phosphate control biological activity and fluxes in the subtropical North Atlantic. The study led by the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) united marine scientists from institutions across the UK and international collaborators. It was funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council. The data are held at the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) and have been incorporated into the National Oceanographic Database (NODB).