This dataset consists of image mosaics of submarine canyons off Morocco collected using TOBI side-scan sonar on RV Maria S. Merian cruise MSM32, which occurred between 25 September and 30 October 2013. Imaging was conducted using a TOBI deep tow sidescan sonar, a high-resolution 2D seismic system consisting of a 150m long 88 channel digital streamer and a standard GI-gun. This cruise formed the field component of NERC Discovery Science project ‘How do submarine landslides disintegrate and form long run-out turbidity currents in the deep ocean, and how erosive are these flows?’ The study aimed to generate the first ever field dataset tracing a large-scale submarine landslide and its associated sediment-gravity flow from source-to-sink. This resulting dataset will aim to answer three important science questions: 1) How quickly do large submarine landslides disintegrate into long run-out sediment flows, and how is this process influenced by shape of the slope? 2) How efficiently do landslides remove failed material, i.e. what proportion of landslide debris is deposited on the slope and how much transforms into a flow that is transported distally? 3) How much sediment is incorporated into the flow through seafloor erosion, and where does most of this erosion take place? The Discovery Science project was composed of Standard Grant reference NE/J012955/1 and was led by Professor Russell Barry Wynn (National Oceanography Centre, Science and Technology). Funding ran from 07 June 2013 to 06 June 2014. Data have been received by BODC as raw files from the RRS James Cook and are available on request from BODC enquiries.

This dataset consists of underwater benthic imagery and measurements of light attenuation taken from Paluma Shoals in the Coral Sea following a 2016 El Niño coral bleaching event. Data were collected between 09 and 11 August 2016. Benthic imagery was captured using a SeaViewer Sea-Drop™ Camera (950 Analog model) on 10 August 2016. Light attenuation measurements were taken using a LiCOR LI-192SA Light Meter deployed at a range of depths below the sea surface. These cruises formed the field component of NERC Discovery Science project "Quantifying ENSO-related bleaching on nearshore, turbid-zone coral reefs grant story”. The data were collected following a major El Niño event which caused mass coral bleaching across the Great Barrier Reef. The event provided opportunity to undertake a rapid assessment of the impacts of bleaching on the turbid-zone reefs in the vicinity of Paluma Shoals (central Halifax Bay). The aim of the project is to ascertain: 1) The total extent of bleaching-induced mortality; 2) The extent to which specific coral species have been impacted; 3) Any immediate impacts on the structural complexity and diversity of the reefs. The Discovery Science project was composed of Standard Grant NE/P007694/1. The grant was held by the University of Exeter, School of Geography and led by Professor Christopher Perry. The funding period ran from 01 July 2016 to 31 March 2017. All data described have been received by BODC from the RRS James Clark Ross and will be processed and made available online in the future. Raw data are available on request. No further data are expected from this project.

Two collections of benthic still images were obtained using a downward-looking camera mounted on the UK ISIS Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), deployed from the RRS James Cook during cruise JC241, 2023. Three further benthic still image collections were acquired using the UK Autosub5 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), deployed from the RRS James Cook during cruise JC257, 2024. All surveys were undertaken in the abyssal plain of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), Pacific Ocean (~4100-4700 m depth). The Grasshopper2 GS2-GE-50S5C camera system was mounted on each vehicle and captured vertically orientated still images at a target altitude of 2.5 - 3 m above the seabed. One ROV survey from JC241 was undertaken to assess benthic biological patterns in an area disturbed by a deep-sea mining machine operated by the Ocean Minerals Company (OMCO) in 1979. The second ROV survey from JC241 and one AUV survey from JC257 was undertaken in the UK-1 exploration area. The second AUV survey from JC257 was undertaken 30 km south of the northern border of the UK-1 exploration area. The third AUV survey from JC257 was undertaken 100 km south of the northern border of the UK-1 exploration area. The surveys were undertaken to derive ecological understanding on the influence of seabed topography on seabed community composition. The data were collected by scientists from the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK as part of the NERC-funded Seabed Mining And Resilience To EXperimental impact (SMARTEX) project (NE/T003537/1).

The dataset contains BioCam visual seafloor mapping device from data collected between 23rd September to 5th October 2022. These data were collected by the University of Southampton and the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) as part of the INSITE (Influence of man-made structures in the ecosystem) AT-SEA (Autonomous Techniques for anthropogenic Structure Ecological Assessment NE/T010649/1) project. Two shore-launched Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) deployments were conducted in the North Sea, at the site of the decommissioned North West Hutton oil platform and Miller platform. These data include colour corrected strobed images, and cm-resolution bathymetry maps and texture maps. These data were collected using the BioCam seafloor mapping device mounted to the 6000 m rated Autosub Long Range (ALR). To collect colour imagery, a strobe was mounted at the front and another one at the back of the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) and were used to illuminate the seafloor when the colour camera of BioCam, mounted at the centre of the AUV, acquired those images once every 3 s. The strobed colour images were stored in raw format along with their timestamps. A line laser mounted at the front and another one mounted at the back of the AUV projected lines onto the seafloor at the same time. The lasers were permanently on, except when the strobes were triggered, when they were briefly turned off to avoid projecting the laser lines onto the strobed colour photos. Images of the laser line projection were acquired at 10 Hz and saved along with their timestamps. Post mission, the strobed images were colour corrected with an algorithm implemented in oplab-pipeline in post processing. Bathymetric data were computed using the laser line images that were processed with a light-sectioning algorithm published by Bodenmann, Thornton and Ura (2016). Texture maps were generated by projecting the colour-corrected images onto the 3D reconstructed bathymetry as detailed by Bodenmann, Thornton and Ura (2016).

The Impacts of Deglaciation on Benthic Marine Ecosystems in Antarctica (ICEBERGS) dataset comprises of physical oceanography, marine geology, habitat mapping, community structure and seabed sediment data. The data were collected from CTD deployments, multi-beam swath bathymetry surveys, TOPAS sub-bottom profiling, shallow underwater camera system deployments, plankton net deployments, Agassiz trawls, Hamon grabs and multi-corer deployments during three seasonal cruises around the West Antarctic Peninsula beginning 2017 and scheduled to end in 2021. The data were collected as part of the ICEBERGS project to investigate the impacts of physical disturbance arising from climate-warming induced deglaciation on benthic communities around the West Antarctic Peninsula. The ICEBERGS project is part of the joint funded NERC-CONICYT Initiative and involves collaboration between the University of Exeter, University of Bangor, British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción. The physical data will be managed by the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) with the remainder of the data being submitted to the Polar Data Centre (BAS-PDC).

This dataset includes high-definition video imagery, hydrographic and navigation data from the Isis remotely operated vehicle (ROV). These data were then used to perform a biometric and reproductive analysis on Kiwa tyleri sp. which also forms part of the dataset. Four hydrothermal vent and cold seep sites were sampled during thirty one ROV dives: south of Bird Island on the South Georgia shelf, the E2 and E9 segments of the East Scotia Ridge, and the Kemp Seamount. The dives were undertaken between 10th January 2010 and 12th February 2010 during the RRS James Cook research cruise JC042 (7th January - 24th February 2010). The Isis ROV was equipped with a high-definition video camera, a CTD package, an Ultra Short Baseline navigation system and a suction sampler. The data were produced as part of the NERC Consortium Grant project Chemosynthetic Ecosystems in the Southern Ocean (ChEsSo), which funded a total of four cruises (JR224, JC042, JC055 and JC080). The dataset contributed to the project aims to search for, identify and intensively study hydrothermal vent and cold seep sites in the eastern Scotia Sea. The existing dataset was produced by scientists from the University of Southampton and technicians from the National Oceanography Centre. Additional data for these cruises may become available in the future. Please note that the access restrictions for video imagery, hydrographic and navigation data are currently unknown. The biometric and reproductive analysis data are unrestricted and accessible through the Published Data Library.

This dataset contains Autosub3 measurements (position, ice draft, sea bed depth, water temperature, salinity, depth and pressure) collected under the frame of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Ice Sheet Stability Programme. The data were collected in the Amundsen Sea region of the Antarctic, more specifically in the Pine Island Glacier, during a series of missions from RRS James Clark Ross in February 2014. Radar measurements provided information about the bottom of the glacier, which then allowed for the definition of Autosub3 tracks for the different missions. Autosub3 was equipped with a CTD, oxygen sensor, transmissometer, GPS and ADCP. The Autosub missions were conducted as part of the ‘Ocean under ice: Ocean circulation and melting beneath the ice shelves of the south-eastern Amundsen Sea (iSTAR B)’ Project. This was one of four projects delivering the NERC Ice Sheet Stability Programme, aiming to better understand the physical processes governing the rate of ice melt in the West Antarctic ice sheet. The principal investigator for iSTAR B was Dr Adrian Jenkins from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

The data set comprises of geophysical observations in the source regions of the 2004 and 2005 great Sumatra earthquakes. Geophysical surveys were carried out to determine the seabed bathymetry and underlying structure and geometry and included the collection of seismic reflection, magnetic, gravity, and sidescan sonar data. In addition, Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) and Sound-Velocity Probe (SVP) data were collected, as well as continuous meteorological (air pressure, air temperature, radiance, relative humidity, wind direction and speed) and sea surface (temperature and conductivity) data. Data were collected in the Indian Ocean, west and north west of Sumatra between 8 degrees South, 6 degrees North, 94 and 108 degrees East. The data were collected during three cruises, SO198-1, SO198-2 and SO200 over two legs SO200-1 and SO200-2. The three cruises took place between May 2008 and February 2009. The data collection focussed on the areas around two earthquake segment boundaries: Segment Boundary 1 (SB1) between the 2004 and 2005 ruptures at Simeulue Island, and Segment Boundary 2 (SB2) between the 2005 and smaller 1935 ruptures between Nias and the Batu Islands. Measurements were taken using a variety of instrumentation across all three cruises including: the long-term deployment of 50 Ocean-Bottom Seismometers (OBS) deployed on cruise SO198-1 and retrieved on cruise SO200-1; 154 Expendable Bathythermograph (XBT) probes; high resolution multichannel seismic reflection (MCS) profilers; Swath bathymetric and backscatter echosounders; SVPs and CTDs which were deployed simultaneously; and a gravity meter and Parasound sub-bottom profiler were operated continuously within the survey areas. In addition, sea surface and meteorological measurements were made using the underway system throughout the three cruises, although there are no data for days at the beginning and end of the cruises of up to 10 days. During the two legs of SO200 additional instrumentation was deployed including: a 30 kHz deep-towed sidescan sonar system (TOBI); piston cores and megacores collected along the plate margin; and heatflow probes long transects. The UK Sumatra Consortium project aimed to characterise the subduction boundary between the Indian-Australian plate and the Burman and Sumatra blocks (including subduction zone structure and rock physical properties), record seismic activity, improve and link earthquake slip distribution to the structure of the subduction zone and to determine the sedimentological record of great earthquakes (both recent and historic) along this part of the plate margin. The project will allow better assessment of future earthquake magnitudes and locations, and further the general understanding of the earthquake rupture process. The UK Sumatra Consortium project was led by the National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOCS) and involved five UK partners; NOCS, the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Liverpool, and the British Geological Survey as well as numerous international partners including French, German, American, Indonesian and Indian Collaborators. The principal investigator was Dr Timothy Henstock from NOC. The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded data will be managed by the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC).

A collection of geophysical and oceanographic data from several cruises dedicated to the repeated mapping and monitoring of three UK Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Data were collected on the following cruises between 2018-2023: JC166/7, DY103, DY108/9, DY120, DY116, DY130, JC231, DY152, JC237, JC238, JC247. Data collection took place at three UK MPAs: Haig Fras Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) in the Celtic Sea; Whittard Canyon submarine complex, which includes The Canyons MCZ, situated off the south-west UK continental shelf; Darwin Mounds Special Area of Conservation (SAC), situated in the northern Rockall Trough. An Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) was used to collect photographic data, sidescan sonar and multibeam bathymetry. Other data included shipboard multibeam bathymetry data; moored ADCP, CTD and sediment trap datasets from repeat mooring deployments; deep glider data; ROV video, pushcores and specimen samples; settling plate experiments; box-cores and mega cores; BioCam imagery. The MPAs under investigation had previously been surveyed on cruises JC035 (2009) and JC125 (2015), hence these cruises formed part of the Fixed Point Observations Underpinning Activity. Here repeated observations and surveys of MPAs and their surroundings aimed to provide insight into the development and recovery of benthic ecosystems following natural and/or anthropogenic impacts. The data collection was undertaken by scientists at the UK’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC) and formed part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Climate Linked Atlantic Sector Science (CLASS) Programme (NERC grant reference NE/R015953/1).