Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry programme oceanographic data set

The Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry (SSB) data set comprises hydrographic data, including measurements of temperature, salinity and currents, complemented by bathymetric and meteorological data. The study area is located in the Celtic Sea, shelf seas and shelf-edges around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. The data were collected by a combination of research cruises that spanned from March 2014 to September 2015. Shipboard data collection involved the deployment of conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) packages 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. Moorings were deployed in the Celtic Sea in early 2014 and provided approximately two years worth of hydrographic time series data. The SSB programme aims to increase the understanding of the cycling of nutrients and carbon and the controls on primary and secondary production, and their role in wider biogeochemical cycles, which in turn will significantly improve predictive marine biogeochemical and ecosystem models over a range of scales. SSB brings together UK researchers from Bangor University, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), Meteorological Office, National Oceanography Centre (NOC), Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), University of Aberdeen, University of East Anglia (UEA), University of Edinburgh, University of Liverpool, University of Oxford, University of Portsmouth and University of Southampton. It also has UK and Irish partners, as Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI), Marine Institute and Marine Scotland Science. The programme was divided into five work packages, having Jonathan Sharples as the Principal Investigator for work package 1 (CANDYFLOSS), Martin Solan as Principal Investigator for work package 2 (Biogeochemistry, macronutrient and carbon cycling in the benthic layer), Peter J. Statham as Principal Investigator for work package 3 (Supply of iron from shelf sediments to the ocean), Icarus Allen as Principal Investigator for work package 4 (Integrative Modelling for Shelf Seas Biogeochemistry) and Keith Weston as Principal Investigator for work package 5 (Blue Carbon – How much carbon is stored in UK shelf seas, what influences storage and could it be used in carbon trading?). All data will be managed by the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC).