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  • Palaeoecological proxy data (pollen, non-pollen palynomorph (NPP), micro-charcoal, macro-charcoal, loss-on-ignition (LOI) and x-ray fluorescence (XRF)) recovered from lake sediments, cliff exposures, surface soils and moss pollsters within the eastern Andean cloud forest of Ecuador. Palaeoecological proxy data were recovered from lake sediments, surface soil and moss pollsters within the eastern Andean cloud forest of Ecuador. Materials and proxy data were collected with the aim of understanding how ecosystem dynamics were driven by anthropogenic, physical and climatic impact through time (late Quaternary). Here, data are provided for pollen, non-pollen palynomorph (NPP), micro-charcoal, macro-charcoal, loss-on-ignition (LOI) and x-ray fluorescence (XRF). Field samples were collected throughout 2012-2013 from the Napo province of Ecuador and analysed in the laboratory throughout 2014-2015 at The Open University (UK). Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/952e8ddb-b573-44ad-a930-2c8c5164a381

  • Hydrological monitoring data in this data collection result from dipwells installed at studied flood defence scheme, where electronic gauges monitored water-table fluctuations over time. Ecological data contain species sighting records of birds, butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies recorded during site visits to flood defence schemes in summer 2007. These data aim to show the relationship between water regimes and habitat potential.The study is part of the NERC Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) programme. Agricultural Flood Defence Schemes in floodplain and coastal areas were once an important element of Government support for farmers in Britain. More recently, however, changing priorities in the countryside, concern about environmental quality and perceptions of increased flood risk in lowland areas, in part linked to climate change, have promoted a re-appraisal of land management options and policies for floodplain areas. Eight agricultural flood defence schemes, previously studied by the research team in the 1980s, have been re-examined to identify and explain changes in land and water management that have occurred over the last 40-years. This involved stakeholder and institutional analysis, farmer interviews, ecological surveys, field observations and modelling of hydrological and related ecological processes. Generic land use scenarios have been developed to consider management options that focus on single objectives, such as maximising agricultural production, maximising biodiversity and minimising flood risk in the catchment. The scenarios examined the impacts of changes in rural land use on ecosystem goods and services. The influence of agricultural policy, interacting with farmer circumstances and motivation, on land use has also been explored. The project also evaluated the impacts of the summer 2007 floods on agriculture and rural communities. The results revealed opportunities for achieving a wide range of benefits relating to farming, biodiversity, amenity, flood management, water quality and the wider rural economy. The study informed strategies for floodplain management, helping to develop approaches that are appealing to major stakeholders. Historical data on the studied flood defence schemes, farm business survey data and interviews with farmers at flood defence schemes, and interviews with farmers and rural businesses affected by summer floods in 2007 are available at the UK Data Archive under study number 6377 (see related resources). Further documentation for this study may be found through the RELU Knowledge Portal and the project's ESRC funding award web page (see online resources).

  • Dredging for rock samples was conducted in the West Scotia Sea during James Clark Ross cruise no JR77 between Feb and Mar 2004. The aim was to acquire rock samples to constrain the history of the mantle beneath the Scotia Sea, from which the oceanic crust was derived by melting. Twenty days of rock dredging were conducted at fourteen sites in five main areas. Thirteen dredges were successful in recovering oceanic rocks of mixed sizes, up to and including very large boulders and dredge paths of up to 1 km were followed. The cruise also (remarkably) recovered fresh mantle peridotite nodules from the West Scotia Ridge, the first of its type - to our knowledge - from the world's ocean ridge system.

  • Geochemical analysis of rock samples acquired by dredging activities in the Scotia Sea between Feb and Mar 2004 aboard James Clark Ross (cruise no JR77). The initial aim of this project was to carry out a higher resolution geochemical study of mantle flow using existing samples. This confirmed flow from the Bouvet domain into the East Scotia Sea and placed constraints on flow pathways. The second stage was to sample further within the West Scotia Sea and to use elemental and isotope (Sr, Nd, Pb, Hf) analyses to fingerprint mantle provenance. The results were used to locate and investigate the nature of the Pacific-South Atlantic mantle domain boundary and thus to contribute to the understanding and quantification of global upper mantle fluxes.

  • Dredge sampling was carried out aboard the James Clark Ross (cruise no JR77 ) during Feb and Mar 2004. The dredge target area was along the eastern segments of the West Scotia Ridge, an ocean spreading centre which stopped spreading about 10 million years ago. The spreading centre has high topographic relief and contains an axial rift, which has flanks that are suitable for dredging. The plan was to map the spreading centre using the swath bathymetry system, and then to use this map to locate the best dredging sites. Thirteen dredges were successful in recovering oceanic rocks of mixed sizes, up to and including very large boulders and dredge paths of up to 1 km were followed.

  • This dataset collection contains basic gridded atmospheric and surface variables for the planet Mars over three Martian years (a martian year is 1.88 terrestrial years), as produced by data assimilation of spacecraft observations. Each file in the dataset spans 30 martian mean solar days (sols) during the science mapping phase of the National Aeronautics and Space Administrations's (NASA) Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft, between May 1999 and August 2004. The dataset collection was produced by the re-analysis of Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) retrievals of nadir thermal profiles and total dust opacities, using the Mars Analysis Correction Data Assimilation (MACDA) scheme in a Mars global circulation model (MGCM). The MGCM used the UK spectral version of the model developed by the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (LMD) in Paris, France. MACDA was a collaboration between the University of Oxford and The Open University in the UK.

  • These files represent the model build used to generate postcode level concentrations to estimate Aspergillus fumigatus exposure from outdoor composting activities in England between 2005 and 2014. Each file, named after the nearest SCAIL-Agriculture validated meteorological station used to model the outputs, contains modelled concentrations at composting sites within 4km of each composting site. These files, presented as.txt, are the .APL files used to model bioaerosol dispersion from every composting site in England, using ADMS 5. To use this file, please convert the .txt file extension to .APL and upload into ADMS. From there, press run. Model runs are likely to generate over 40GB of data per model run. The work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council grants ((NE/P010806/1 and NE/M011631/1). Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/9f1b307b-9b47-4a11-8e5b-e14008ad0032

  • This dataset contains basic gridded atmospheric and surface variables for the planet Mars over three martian years (a martian year is 1.88 terrestrial years), as produced by data assimilation of spacecraft observations. Each file in the dataset spans 30 martian mean solar days (sols) during the science mapping phase of the National Aeronautics and Space Administrations's (NASA) Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft, between May 1999 and August 2004. The dataset is produced by the re-analysis of Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) retrievals of nadir thermal profiles and total dust opacities, using the Mars Analysis Correction Data Assimilation (MACDA) scheme in a Mars global circulation model (MGCM). The MGCM used is the UK spectral version of the model developed by the Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique in Paris, France. MACDA is a collaboration between the University of Oxford and The Open University in the UK.

  • This dataset contains basic gridded atmospheric and surface variables for the planet Mars over three martian years (a martian year is 1.88 terrestrial years), produced as a reference run in association with the Mars Analysis Correction Data Assimilation (MACDA) v1.0 re-analysis. Each file in the dataset spans 30 martian mean solar days (sols) during the science mapping phase of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft, between May 1999 and August 2004. This dataset is a reference run produced by re-analysis of Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) retrievals of only total dust opacities, using the MACDA scheme in a Mars global circulation model (MGCM). This reference dataset, therefore, should be used in association with the full re-analysis of TES retrievals of nadir thermal profiles and total dust opacities - see linked dataset. The MGCM used is the UK spectral version of the model developed by the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique in Paris, France. MACDA is a collaboration between the University of Oxford and The Open University in the UK.

  • Year-round measurements of the water column in Ryder Bay, Western Antarctic Peninsula have been collected by the Rothera Marine Assistant and associated researchers, starting in 1997 as part of the Rothera Oceanographic and Biological Time Series (RATS) to assess temporal variability in physical and biogeochemical oceanographic properties. The data were collected using instrumentation deployed from rigid inflatable boats, or through instrumentation deployed through holes cut in the sea ice when the bay is frozen over in winter. Data collected include profiles to about 500m depth with a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) system that produces measurements of temperature, salinity, fluorescence and photosynthetically-active radiation (PAR). Individual water samples are collected with a Niskin bottle from a standard 15m depth, with some samples also collected from the surface layer. These individual samples are analysed for size-fractionated chlorophyll, macronutrients (nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, orthophosphate and silicic acid), stable isotopes of oxygen in seawater, and some ancillary parameters. The bottle data have been quality controlled using international reference standards. Profiling and water sample collection occur with quasi-weekly frequency in summer and weekly in winter, but are weather and sea ice dependent. In addition, daily assessments of sea ice concentration and sea ice type are made from nearby Rothera Research Station by visual inspection, to aid interpretation of the ocean data collected. These data constitute one of the longest time series of ocean measurements in Antarctica, with near-unique systematic data collection in winter, within either polar circle. Data collection has been supported since 1997 by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) through core funding supplied to the British Antarctic Survey. Since 2017, it has been supported by NERC award "National Capability - Polar Expertise Supporting UK Research" (NE/R016038/1).