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Marine Environment Monitoring and Assessment National database (MERMAN) Contaminants and biological effects in sediment -1989 onwards

The Marine Environment Monitoring and Assessment National database (MERMAN) is a national database which holds and provides access to data collected under the Clean Safe Seas Environmental Monitoring Programme (CSEMP) formerly the National Marine Monitoring Programme (NMMP). The data collected are the responsibility of the Competent Monitoring Authorities (CMAs) who collect the samples from stations in UK waters using water sampling techniques, trawls, nets or grabs. The CMAs then send the collected samples to accredited laboratories where they are analysed. A weighting is calculated, based on the quality of the analysis. The weighting score incorporates the laboratory accreditation, reference material, inter-laboratory comparisons, detection limits, uncertainties and standard deviations. Where data do not meet a threshold score they are given a status of ‘FAIL’ and although they are stored they are not made available to external users. The MERMAN contaminants and biological effects in sediment data start in 1987 with greater use of the database occurring from 1997 onwards. Data are submitted by the CMAs annually and an annual submission may include updates to legacy data to provide additional data or improve data/metadata. The data held in MERMAN fulfils the UK's mandatory monitoring requirements under the Oslo and Paris Convention (OSPAR) Joint Assessments and Monitoring Programme (JAMP). These data are used in support of European Commission (EC) directives and national assessments, such as Charting Progress 2 and are also supplied to the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODNET).

Simple

Alternate title
British Oceanographic Data Centre record 1048MERMAN_CS
Date (Publication)
2017-10-03
Date (Creation)
2016-06-22
Date (Revision)
2021-04-21
Identifier
http://www.bodc.ac.uk/ / EDMED6542
Owner
  Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs - Unknown ( Unknown )
Dundonald House, Upper Newtownards Road , Belfast , BT4 3SB , United Kingdom
+44(0) 300 200 7852
https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/
Originator
  Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs - Unknown ( Unknown )
Dundonald House, Upper Newtownards Road , Belfast , BT4 3SB , United Kingdom
+44(0) 300 200 7852
https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/
Owner
  Natural Resources Wales - Unknown ( Unknown )
Tŷ Cambria , Cardiff , CF24 0TP , United Kingdom
+44 (0) 300 065 3000
http://naturalresourceswales.gov.uk
Originator
  Natural Resources Wales - Unknown ( Unknown )
Tŷ Cambria , Cardiff , CF24 0TP , United Kingdom
+44 (0) 300 065 3000
http://naturalresourceswales.gov.uk
Owner
  Environment Agency Head Office - Unknown ( Unknown )
Rio House , Waterside Drive , Aztec West , Almondsbury , Bristol , BS32 4UD , United Kingdom
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk
Originator
  Environment Agency Head Office - Unknown ( Unknown )
Rio House , Waterside Drive , Aztec West , Almondsbury , Bristol , BS32 4UD , United Kingdom
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk
Owner
  Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Stirling Office - Unknown ( Unknown )
Strathallan House , Stirling , FK9 4TZ , United Kingdom
+44 (0)1786 452595
https://www.sepa.org.uk/
Originator
  Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Stirling Office - Unknown ( Unknown )
Strathallan House , Stirling , FK9 4TZ , United Kingdom
+44 (0)1786 452595
https://www.sepa.org.uk/
Owner
  Marine Scotland Science - Unknown ( Unknown )
Marine Laboratory, PO Box 101 , Aberdeen , Aberdeenshire , AB11 9DB , United Kingdom
+44 (0)1224 876544
Originator
  Marine Scotland Science - Unknown ( Unknown )
Marine Laboratory, PO Box 101 , Aberdeen , Aberdeenshire , AB11 9DB , United Kingdom
+44 (0)1224 876544
Owner
  Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory - Unknown ( Unknown )
Pakefield Road , Lowestoft , Suffolk , NR33 OHT , United Kingdom
+44 (0)1502 562244
http://www.cefas.co.uk/
Originator
  Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory - Unknown ( Unknown )
Pakefield Road , Lowestoft , Suffolk , NR33 OHT , United Kingdom
+44 (0)1502 562244
http://www.cefas.co.uk/
Owner
  Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute - Unknown ( Unknown )
AFBI Headquarters , Newforge Lane , Belfast , BT9 5PX , United Kingdom
+44 (0)28 90 255689
http://www.afbini.gov.uk/
Originator
  Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute - Unknown ( Unknown )
AFBI Headquarters , Newforge Lane , Belfast , BT9 5PX , United Kingdom
+44 (0)28 90 255689
http://www.afbini.gov.uk/
Custodian
  British Oceanographic Data Centre - Director
Joseph Proudman Building , 6 Brownlow Street , Liverpool , Merseyside , L3 5DA , United Kingdom
https://www.bodc.ac.uk/
Distributor
  British Oceanographic Data Centre - Director
Joseph Proudman Building , 6 Brownlow Street , Liverpool , Merseyside , L3 5DA , United Kingdom
https://www.bodc.ac.uk/
Maintenance and update frequency
asNeeded As needed
SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary
  • Concentration of polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) in sediment samples
  • Concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediment samples
  • Chlorophyll pigment concentrations in sediment
  • Metal concentrations in sediment pore waters
  • Metadata parameters
  • Sediment grain size parameters
  • Nitrogen concentrations in sediment
  • Concentration of aliphatic hydrocarbons in sediment samples
  • Quality control flags
  • Chlorophyll pigment concentrations in water bodies
  • Concentration of organic matter in sediments
MEDIN metadata record availability
  • Marine Environmental Data and Information Network
  • data.gov.uk
  • Natural Environment Research Council Designated Data Centres
SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages
  • unknown
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
  • Oceanographic geographical features
  • Geology
  • Human health and safety
Access constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
No limitations apply
Other constraints
Data are freely available to all following agreement to the terms and conditions of a Data Licence
Use constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
Usage restrictions are specified in the terms of the licence
Spatial representation type
Text, table
Metadata language
EnglishEnglish
Topic category
  • Environment
  • Geoscientific information
  • Biota
  • Oceans
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Geographic identifier
North Sea

Date (Revision)
2023-09-13

Geographic identifier
Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland

Date (Revision)
2023-09-13

Geographic identifier
Irish Sea

Date (Revision)
2023-09-13

Geographic identifier
Bristol Channel

Date (Revision)
2023-09-13

Geographic identifier
Celtic Sea

Date (Revision)
2023-09-13

Geographic identifier
English Channel

Date (Revision)
2023-09-13

Geographic identifier
Norwegian Sea

Date (Revision)
2023-09-13

Geographic identifier
Northeast Atlantic Ocean (40W)

Date (Revision)
2023-09-13

Begin date
1989-08-02
End date
2024-08-13 After
Unique resource identifier
urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326
Codespace
OGP
Distribution format
  • Delimited ()

OnLine resource
MERMAN data information webpage

BODC webpage describing aacess to the data

Hierarchy level
dataset Dataset

Conformance result

Date (Publication)
2010-12-08
Explanation
BODC protocols are based on the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) model enabling BODC to iterate towards compliance with the on-going evolution and development of community requirements including FAIR (Findable,Accessible,Interoperable,Reusable), TRUST (Transparency, Responsibility, User community, Sustainability, Technology) and CARE (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics). Data managers quality assure submissions and assemble the metadata necessary for curation. Submissions (as received) are placed in a long-term accession and stored in triplicate across multiple sites. Appropriate data are transferred into a standard internal format with source variable names mapped to controlled vocabularies, documentation assembled, and metadata loaded into BODC databases. Access to these data is through direct request, the BODC website and through partner repositories such as SeaDataNet. Access control is attained by assigning a data policy to each set of data and this policy is used to administer access when data are requested. Discovery metadata is aligned with EU INSPIRE (through MEDIN) and SeaDataNet community standards. Data are converted to open community formats including Ocean Data View ASCII and SeaDataNet NetCDF, with data described using terms from the NERC vocabulary server. BODC submission agreements are documented on the BODC website and customer service is assured with a dedicated requests team that serve data following local regulations including General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018 and Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) 2004.
Pass
Yes
Statement
The Competent Monitoring Authorities send the collected samples to accredited laboratories where they are analysed. A weighting is calculated, based on the quality of the analysis. The weighting score incorporates the laboratory accreditation, reference material, inter-laboratory comparisons, detection limits, uncertainties and standard deviations.The MERMAN Management Team facilitate and coordinate the data submissions. This achieved by liaising with the CMAs, providing advice and managing the database through database enhancements and the implementation of database rules.Once submissions are complete the MERMAN Management Team curate and check the data submissions investigating any noticeable errors. This is done by using visual tools from various local software and running the data through ICES checking software. Any errors to the data are then ranked by status, the CMAs are informed and the most critical errors are corrected and resubmitted.
File identifier
616e034a58f85b419b93528a0105d2c6 XML
Metadata language
EnglishEnglish
Hierarchy level
dataset Dataset
Date stamp
2024-08-13T08:40:26
Metadata standard name
MEDIN
Metadata standard version
3.1.1
Point of contact
  British Oceanographic Data Centre - James Ayliffe ( MERMAN Data Manager )
Joseph Proudman Building , 6 Brownlow Street , Liverpool , Merseyside , L3 5DA , United Kingdom
https://www.bodc.ac.uk/
 
 

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