British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC)

NERC Vocabulary Server

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:34:00 +0000

The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) announce the launch of a new version of the NERC Vocabulary Server.

An example of the returned XML document ©

Version 2.0 (NVS2.0) of the server represents a complete rewrite of the internal software, with increases in both functionality and performance. The information returned from calls to the Vocabulary Server has also been redesigned and enhanced to take in to account the latest available standards. Other enhancements include the ability to provide information in multiple languages and for links to be made between the content of the NERC Vocabulary Server and other resources.

Although the code for version 1.1 (V1.1) will remain operational for the foreseeable future, existing users are urged to convert to NVS2.0 as soon as possible. The development of new applications based on V1.1 is strongly discouraged.

NVS2.0 has been developed as part of the European Union Framework Programme 7 funded Open Service Network for Marine Environmental Data (NETMAR) project.

Published Data Library (PDL)

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:20:00 +0000

The British Oceanographic data Centre (BODC) announce the launch of an operational prototype Published Data Library. This provides snapshots of specially chosen data sets, archived using rigorous version management. This enables citation of the data set in journal papers through the assignment of a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) in collaboration with the British Library.

An example of a dataset citation. ©

The PDL is for the publication of fixed copies of reference data sets so that they can be re-used and cited over an indefinite period of time. There is a fundamental assumption that the copy of the data set will be exactly the same each time it is referenced. It should be noted that the assignment of a DOI is not a substitute for long-term data management by the NERC data centres, which enables users to construct their own data sets from all data holdings.

Consequently PDL data sets will be restricted to two types

Data sets that have not yet been ingested into the BODC system, but are destined for future ingestion.
Candidate data sets will be identified through discussion between data originators and the BODC data scientists responsible for the data. The data originator has full responsibility for providing data and metadata that meet the technical quality standards. BODC will judge the acceptability of data sets in terms of their completeness, but not in terms of their scientific quality or value.
Data sets that have been ingested into the BODC system and subsequently exported.
Candidate data sets of this type will be identified through discussion between the scientists who supplied the data and the BODC data scientists responsible for their ingestion. The technical quality of these data sets is BODC's responsibility.

Data citation is an exciting and rapidly evolving area of science publication and it is likely that the approach will take time to mature. While we aim to provide an efficient service, a heavy takeup for publication will inevitably take time to process. To help everyone, we would be grateful if contributors to the PDL plan well ahead, contact us early and take time to become familiar with the necessary requirements for submission.

Work is continuing in this area as BODC are committed to improving the services we provide to the marine community.

Data management for the UKOA programme

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 17:12:00 +0000

The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) announces the launch of the data management area for the UK Ocean Acidification (UKOA) research programme.

Chalk cliffs today are the legacy of carbonate shells produced by marine organisms in the distant past ©

UKOA is a five-year, £12 million research programme that began in 2010. It involves 27 research institutes in the UK, has close links with other ocean acidification programmes around the world and is co-funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

Ocean acidification occurs as carbon dioxide (CO₂) dissolves in seawater and forms carbonic acid. The oceans absorb roughly half of human CO₂ emissions and, if we continue emitting CO₂ at the same rate, the acidity (hydrogen ion concentration) of the upper ocean is predicted to increase by about 150% by 2100. This pH change has other important implications for ocean chemistry – and marine life.

UKOA aims to better predict the chemical changes involved and their knock-on effects for organisms and ecosystems and thereby help provide effective policy advice on the potential size and timescale of risks.

BODC's role involves the quality control, dissemination and stewardship of UKOA data, as well as facilitating data exchange within the UKOA community and providing advice on data management best practice. Our data management web pages provide background information about the UKOA programme, as well as inventories of research cruises and associated datasets.
The pages are designed to promote data sharing and collaboration between programme participants and the wider scientific community.

BODC at Oceanology International 2012 (Oi2012)

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:19:00 +0000

The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) are participating in Oceanology International 2012 (Oi12). It takes place from 13-15 March 2012 at ExCeL London, the international exhibition and conference centre in the Docklands.

BODC stand at Oi10. ©

Oceanology International is a global forum where industry, academia and government share knowledge and connect with the marine technology and ocean science community, looking to improve their strategies for measuring, exploiting, protecting and operating in the world's oceans.

A huge selection of marine technology suppliers will be exhibiting their latest innovations and the event will also include a conference, visiting vessels and live demonstrations. There will also be a Careers Day, which should provide good opportunities for student outreach.

As ever, BODC will have our own stand (it's L250 if you're looking for us) and we'll be demonstrating our current projects and developments. Here's the floorplan of the stands at Oi12, so come and visit us and pick up a BODC brochure, a free General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) poster (showing the GEBCO world map) and a BODC badge!

BODC's Argo data in the ANDRO Atlas

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 11:57:00 +0000

The Argo data set — collected from a global network of 3000 profiling floats — provides the first opportunity to investigate sub-surface ocean circulation. Since 2000, data from more than 6000 Argo floats has been collected worldwide, generating around 800,000 profiles.

Argo floats descend to a depth of 1500 to 2000 metres, typically, and drift at this depth for nine days before rising to the surface. During the ascent a temperature and salinity profile is collected. These data are then transmitted via satellite before the float starts another cycle.

However, scientific efforts to understand the oceans' sub-surface circulation has been hindered by several data issues. For example

invalid data when floats became grounded
incomplete information — missing positional or depth information
inconsistent international metadata standards

BODC contribution to ANDRO for the layer 750-1250 dbar in the Atlantic Ocean. ©

To address this, the ANDRO Atlas aims to produce a reliable global atlas of Argo ocean sub-surface trajectories. ANDRO is led by Michel Ollitrault (Ifremer, France) with much of the analysis conducted by Jean-Philippe Rannou from the French company Altran.

The Atlas covers 10 years of Argo data spanning 1999 to 2009 and, funding permitting, will include data from all Argo participant countries. Once complete it will be an unprecedented database of direct and absolute measurements of the ocean circulation down to a depth of 2000 metres.

The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC), the Data Assembly Centre (DAC) for Argo floats from the UK, Ireland, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia, submitted more than 30,000 raw data profiles from over 300 floats to ANDRO in late 2010. Analysis of these data is now complete and they have contributed to the Atlas in the North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Indian and Southern oceans.

Feedback from the data analysis, primarily relating to the inconsistent metadata standards, will be used by BODC over the coming year to improve the quality and scientific value of the BODC-hosted Argo float data. It is also anticipated that the feedback will form the basis for the development of new standard practices within the global Argo community.

BODC awarded prestigious medals

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 16:19:00 +0000

The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) is proud to announce that the prestigious UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) 50^th Anniversary Commemorative Medal has been awarded to

Dr Lesley Rickards — Deputy Director of BODC and Director of the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL)

Dr Meirion Jones — former Director of BODC

Dr Nicholas Flemming — former Head of the Marine Information and Advisory Service (MIAS) — from which BODC was born — and ex-Director of EuroGOOS, the European Global Ocean Observing System

The IOC 50^th Anniversary Commemorative Medal ©

The IOC, which held its first assembly in 1961, was set up "to promote international cooperation and to coordinate programmes in research, services and capacity building, in order to learn more about the nature and resources of the ocean and coastal areas and to apply that knowledge for the improvement, management, sustainable development and protection of the marine environment and the decision making process of its Member States."

Medals were awarded, as part of the IOC 50^th Anniversary celebrations, to those deemed to have made a substantial contribution to the work of IOC. In its citation, IOC says that recipients "...are decorated for their exemplary dedication to the IOC, for their devotion to the IOC mission and for their continuing support to IOC activities."

Altogether, 43 individuals selected by the Medal Nomination Committee, based on Member States and committee members recommendations, were presented with medals during the 50^th Anniversary Closing Ceremony on 22 June 2011. Prof. Philip Woodworth (National Oceanography Centre and former Director PSMSL) and Dr Harry Dooley (former International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Oceanographer and leader of joint ICES-IODE data management activities) were other medal recipients from the UK.

More information and biographies of all medal recipients is available from the IOC web site.

The long way round

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 11:54:00 +0000

A British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) Data Scientist, Mike Nelson, took part in the RRS Discovery cruise D365 in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean. He joined a team of marine scientists from various centres to make measurements along the Extended Ellett Line.

The Extended Ellett Line, an oceanographic section that runs from Scotland to Iceland, crosses the main pathways of warm, salty water flowing towards the Arctic Ocean.

'Stormtrooper Mike' coping with the ash cloud! ©

It is important for investigating oceanic climate variability and is one of the few long-term monitoring datasets in the North Atlantic Ocean, with measurements being collected along the section at regular intervals since 1975. With over 80 cruises having worked the Ellett Line and the Extended Ellett Line, BODC provides access to a wealth of data from this section.

Coping with Mother Nature!

For most people, the word 'cruise' conjures up images of cocktails and sunbeds. However, the reality of a research cruise - particularly in rough seas - is very different. Imagine completing your daily tasks whilst riding a Big Dipper; even sleep becomes impossible for all but the hardiest of seamen!

On cruise 365, after sailing through the relatively sheltered waters of the Irish Sea, Discovery headed out to the west coast of Scotland to start the planned data collection. Almost immediately the forecast storm force winds (~ 65 mph) struck.

With conditions too dangerous to deploy the scientific equipment, she was forced to seek shelter among the islands of the Hebrides. To avoid the worst of the weather, a decision was made to sail north and restart the sampling programme working along the section from Iceland toward Scotland.

Unexpectedly, this route took Discovery straight into the ash cloud from the recently erupted Grimsvotn volcano! Filthy but unscathed, she eventually made it to Iceland's jagged islands and the fabled 'midnight twilight'. From then on it was plain sailing and, despite mother nature's best efforts, most of the planned scientific work was completed.

Why do BODC take part in research cruises?

While onboard a research cruise our Data Scientists gain first-hand experience of sampling techniques and data processing methodologies. This improves our efficiency when ingesting the data into the National Oceanographic Database (NODB). They also help coordinate metadata (information about data) collection, which saves us a lot of time when the data arrive at BODC.

Working alongside colleagues in testing and tiring conditions improves their understanding of how inaccuracies in metadata might occur and developing a good relationship with the scientists, the ship's technicians and students helps remedy these issues.

Ultimately this aids BODC towards its goal of providing a large and accessible marine data resource for the scientific community and the general public.

Today's recipe: Better science through better data management

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 15:34:00 +0000

Data are a key part of the scientific record. A compendium of recipes to make data management digestible has been produced by the Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research (IMBER) Data Management Committee.

Download the IMBER Data Management Cookbook - A Project Guide to good Data practices (414 KB).

The Cookbook's 'recipes' are in no way restricted to IMBER. They should be suitable for any marine research project that gathers data and wants them to be available and useful in the long term.

The IMBER Data Management Cookbook. A Project Guide to good Data practices. ©

Stages of data management

The Cookbook describes data management roles and stages including

Project planning: early stages
Project planning: late stages
Cruise planning: before the cruise
Cruise planning: during the cruise
After the cruise: early stages
After the cruise: late stages

What's cooking? Why not data management?!

Why do most researchers consider data management to be the poor relation to writing papers? Perhaps this is because journal publications are used as an indicator of professional productivity, and can be referenced in other publications using a unique code or Digital Object Identifier (DOI).

However, a good quality data set is a more objective legacy as it is not biased by interpretation. It can be reused and compared with other data sets. Yet the creation of a good quality and well documented data set does not currently bring the same official recognition to its author(s).

However, as the Cookbook suggests, this is about to change. A number of working groups are looking into developing well documented procedures so that the same principles of publication and citation can be applied to well managed data.

The Cookbook will help Principal Investigators and collaborators understand what is needed for good data management.

Reference

The IMBER Data Management Cookbook - A Project Guide to good Data practices (2011).
Pollard R.T., Moncoiffé G. and O'Brien T.D.
IMBER Report No. 3, IPO Secretariat, Plouzané, France. 16pp.

BODC maintains Investors in People (IIP) standard

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 10:39:00 +0000

The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) first achieved the Investors in People (IIP) standard in March 2002 and we are delighted to announce that we have just passed a post-recognition review.

IIP is a national quality standard that defines a level of good practice for improving an organisation's performance through its people.

BODC is an "Investor in People" ©

Our staff are our most important asset and we are dedicated to ensuring that they have the right knowledge, skills and motivation to work effectively.

The IIP assessor reported that BODC's key strengths include

Continued organisational planning — including consultation and input from employees
Effective management support at all levels across the organisation
An exemplary record of staff learning and personal development activities — including making full use of in-house training opportunities and mentoring
A positive organisational awareness of health and wellbeing initiatives
A good team environment with staff feeling valued and appreciated for their efforts

The report highlighted areas of good practice that were clearly beyond the Standard and suggested a few minor development points. An internal team has been formed to look at these suggestions. IIP is a continuous process and we are likely to be reviewed again in 2014.

Data management for the ANDREX and DIMES programmes

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:15:00 +0000

The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) announces the launch of the data management pages for the Antarctic Deep Water Rates of Export (ANDREX), and the Diapycnal and Isopycnal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean (DIMES) programmes.

Icebergs in the Southern Ocean ©

ANDREX is a UK research programme investigating the role of the Weddell Gyre in the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) and its influence on deep ocean properties. The research concentrates on water mass exchange between the Weddell Gyre and the rest of the Southern Ocean, and the manner in which this process affects the formation of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW).

DIMES is a joint UK-US research programme that aims to enhance our understanding of Southern Ocean mixing processes. Climate models are highly sensitive to the representation of mixing in the southern limb of the MOC, within the Southern Ocean. The DIMES project aims to constrain these mixing processes, potentially improving the accuracy of climate predictions.

BODC data management pages provide background information about the research programmes, as well as inventories of cruises and associated datasets. Links to cruise tracks and cruise reports are also available. They also provide information about data submission and delivery, and BODC's role in the programme.

Our data management pages are designed to promote data sharing and collaboration between programme participants and the wider scientific community.

GEBCO Web Map Service (WMS)

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 10:34:00 +0000

On behalf of the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) community, BODC has developed a WMS of the GEBCO_08 Grid — a global gridded bathymetric data set.

The WMS provides a means of accessing geo-referenced map images over the internet, which can be viewed in a web browser, incorporated in your own web applications or displayed in various geographic Information System (GIS) mapping packages.

Viewing the GEBCO WMS through a web browser ©

Supported service requests

GetCapabilities

GetCapabilities request for the GEBCO_08 Grid WMS
This request returns information about the layers contained in the service in the form of an XML file (you may need to save this to view the information).

GetMap

GetMap request for the GEBCO_08 Grid WMS
This request returns a map. Using the information given in the GetCapabilities request, the user can specify parameters such as the geographic extent of the map and the size of the returned image.

Historical sea level data now available

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 20:17:00 +0000

The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) announces the availability of historical sea level data from charts and ledgers, made possible with funding from the Marine Environmental Data and Information Network (MEDIN), matched by BODC funds.

7 - 9 December 1901 - Belfast tide gauge chart. ©

BODC was in possession of several large historic sea level datasets in the form of scanned images of tide gauge charts and ledgers. These images have been added to the National Oceanographic Database (NODB) and are now freely available to registered users (subject to a licence agreement).

These scanned images are from eight tide gauge sites around the UK. The ledgers for Sheerness contain some of the earliest records (1870 onwards) of sea level data in the UK. Other ledgers came from the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company, and include several sites around Liverpool. The tide gauge charts are from Belfast.

Long-term sea level records have a wide range of scientific and practical applications. They are important to climate change studies (to give an indication of sea level rise), operational oceanography (looking at storm surges and tides) and civil engineering (flood defences) amongst others.

Argo float goes on and on

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 22:01:00 +0000

The oceans have a major influence on our climate system and cover 70% of the Earth's surface; yet relatively little is known about them. To improve our understanding vital data from previously data-sparse ice-free deep ocean areas is being collected by Argo - an international programme which was established in 2000.

In 2007, Argo achieved its aim to create a global array of over 3000 profiling floats; these provide about 100,000 observations each year.

One UK float, deployed in North Atlantic during October 2005, has completed 187 cycles and is approaching a complete loop of the North Atlantic sub-polar gyre - a large, permanent, circular rotation of ocean water.

The float followed the continental shelf edge around the Greenland and Newfoundland coast before heading east at 50° N. ©

The float continues to supply good profiles and application of the Owens and Wong (2009) calibration method reveals no significant sensor drift over its lifetime. More details of its voyage and the data it has collected are provided below.

October 2005 — a Apex float WMO# 6900388 is deployed at 61° 15.6' N, 20° 0.6' W.
The float operates a 10 day cycle, whereby it drifts for 9 days at a depth of 1000 m to provide circulation information before descending to a depth of 2000 m. Once it reaches 2000 m it begins an ascent to the sea surface, as it rises it measures the water temperature, salinity and pressure. At the surface it transmits the data it has collected to a receiving station via satellite and descends to a depth of 1000 m, to repeat the cycle.
Spring 2007 (1) — the float passes the southern tip of Greenland and encounters its first injection of cold and fresh water into surface layers. This water originates in the Arctic and despite its low temperature remains buoyant due to its low salt content.
January 2008 (2) — a similar cold and fresh water surface event is seen, however by this time the float has crossed the Labrador Sea and is following the Newfoundland continental shelf. During this period it travels up to 200 km between its 10 day cycles, which equates to an average speed of 20 cm s^-1 whilst drifting at a depth of 1000 m.
February/March 2008 (3) — the floats data shows clear evidence that the upper 2000 m of the water column are well mixed, with both temperature and salinity remaining more or less constant. This seasonal deepening of the mixed layer, due to winter storms, is present but not so obvious in the data from the other years.
Autumn 2008 (4) — the float meets the northern boundary of the Gulf Stream and is deflected eastwards.
Autumn 2008 onwards (4+) — the float's increasing meandering path and the fleeting encounters with warm and cold water features as it crosses the eddy field illustrates the Gulf Stream's energetic and unstable flow. Although there is always a seasonal signal present in surface water temperatures, during the floats journey at the boundary of the Gulf Stream a more chaotic signal is superimposed due to interaction with the fringes of the warmer current.

Potential temperature (top) and salinity (bottom) as measured by float WMO# 6900388 during its voyage. ©

The overall journey helps illustrate the circulation features in the North Atlantic. In particular the narrow, linear flow around the north of the basin which contrasts with the turbulent progress of the Gulf Stream in the south. Full size and additional data plots are also available in an Adobe PDF (2 MB) document.

With over 3000 floats active at any one time, it is inevitable that paths may cross. The final plot shows the path of our float (red) when compared with an Argo Canada float (blue). These are overlain on an annually averaged temperature colour map at 1000 m depth supplied by the UK Met Office FOAM hindcast model.

UK float WMO#6900388 (red) and Canadian float WMO#4900628 (blue) trajectories. ©

It appears that our float has followed the north-western arm of the North Atlantic current and may commence a second circuit. Whereas the Canadian float has taken an alternative route traveling up the Rockall Trough, another main arm of the current, which carries warm water toward Norway and Polar regions.

References
Owens W.B., Wong A.P.S., 2009. An improved calibration method for the drift of the conductivity sensor on autonomous CTD profiling floats by theta-s climatology, Deep-Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 56(3), 450-457.

Schlitzer R., 2010. Ocean Data View (ODV)

The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) acts as the data centre for UK floats in the Argo programme, regardless of their location. We also act as the Regional Data Centre for the Southern Ocean in collaboration with the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia.

A new NERC Data Policy

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 11:29:00 +0000

A new Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Data Policy will come into force in January 2011. It reflects NERC's continuing commitment to openness and transparency in the research process, including access to the data that underpin research publications, and the government's requirement for open access to public data.

The Policy covers environmental data acquired, assembled or created through research, survey and monitoring activities that are either fully or partially funded by NERC.

There are a number of significant changes when compared to NERC's existing Data Policy. However, to allow NERC time to implement new grant application and review processes, some elements will not be implemented immediately.

NERC's data provide the underpinning evidence for scientific research and public policy.©

Key items

The new Data Policy

Provides a clear definition of environmental data — placing the government's concept of public data in a scientific context.

Dictates that all environmental data held by the NERC Data Centres will be made available for free without any restrictions on use. Exceptions include a limited number of data sets where third party rights require NERC to restrict access or to levy charges, or for large or complex requests, where NERC may charge for the cost of supplying the data.

Introduces a formal requirement for all applications for NERC funding to include an outline data management plan, and a requirement for successful applicants, in conjunction with the relevant NERC data centre, to produce a full data management plan.

Introduces the concept of the NERC 'Data Value Checklist'. This checklist details the criteria used to identify the long-term value of environmental data and also communicates the decisions made by the NERC Data Centres during the acquisition and disposal of data.

Provides a clear definition of how long researchers will be entitled to exclusive access to the data they generate. This 'right of first use' will normally be two years from the end of data collection.

Introduces a new requirement that all research publications arising from NERC funding must include a statement on how the supporting data and any other relevant research materials can be accessed.

In light of this new NERC Data Policy, the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) is reviewing its data holdings and work is underway to ensure that our data access policies reflect these changes.

Improved 'online shopping' for data

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 16:44:00 +0000

In line with our commitment to improve data access, data services and your experience of our web site, the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) announces a new release of our 'all data series' download service.

This provides online delivery for data (~ 76,000 series) held in the National Oceanographic Database (NODB). The enhancements include:

improved project searches — data linked to multiple projects as appropriate.
cruise searches — search for data collected during a particular research cruise.
repeat time series (fixed station) searches — find data from key locations, for example the Drake passage or the Ellett Line repeat sections.
improved originator searching — allowing for organisational name changes.

Additionally, we are aware of a slow response time in Internet Explorer which is not present in other browsers. The enhancements have included some modifications to remedy this and improvement has been made. However, as your experience is important to us we will continue this work for following releases.

'Shopping' for data ©

More about the download service

First released in 2009, the 'all data series' download facility encompasses physical, geophysical, chemical and biological measurements. Additional data, for example over two million discrete samples collected from water bottles, will eventually be available via this service. In the interim, please contact our Enquiries Officer for more information.

The 'all data series' facility offers

'anonymous' searching — search prior to registration or log in.
'online shopping' — add data to a basket and check out your request.
a choice of data file formats.
free auto-delivery of more than 55,000 data series to academic users, with around 30,500 freely available to everyone.
free auto-delivery of restricted data series to users with the correct credentials.
'request' tracking and download facility.

Work is continuing to bring this functionality to our other data facilities.

General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans update

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 16:42:00 +0000

The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) maintain and make available global bathymetric data sets on behalf of the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) community.

GEBCO have released version 20100927 of the GEBCO_08 Grid — a global bathymetric grid with 30 arc-second spacing.

Bathymetry of the Weddell Sea region from the latest release of the GEBCO_08 Grid. ©

The new release includes new bathymetric compilations for the Black Sea, Caspian Sea and Weddell Sea regions. This is now available for download alongside the GEBCO_08 Source Identifier and GEBCO One Minute Grids. Users have the option of downloading the complete netCDF grid file(s) or a file covering a user-defined area.

More about the GEBCO_08 Grid

The GEBCO_08 Grid was generated by combining quality-controlled ship depth soundings with interpolation between sounding points guided by satellite-derived gravity data. It is a continuous terrain model for ocean and land with the land data largely derived from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM30) data set.

BODC data scientists supporting science at sea

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 09:26:00 +0000

Two British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) Data Scientists are currently participating in NERC research cruises in the Atlantic Ocean.

Ed Mawji is aboard the RRS Discovery, along with NERC colleagues from the National Oceanography Centre, in his role as Data Manager for the GEOTRACES International Data Assembly Centre (GDAC). GEOTRACES is an international project, involving around 30 countries, investigating the oceans' biogeochemical cycles and large-scale trace element distribution.

Meanwhile, Rob Thomas is on the RRS James Cook as part of the twentieth Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) cruise. AMT is a programme established in 1995 consisting of biological, chemical and physical oceanographic research on yearly voyages along a transect between the UK and South Atlantic. Rob's duties will be assisting with the sampling programme and ensuring high-quality data management.

To find out how they are getting on, visit the GEOTRACES and AMT cruise blogs.

NERC Environmental Data Centres - do they meet your needs?

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:12:00 +0000

The Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Environmental Data Centres have responsibility for the long-term management of data and for providing access to NERC's data holdings. They also provide support and guidance in data management to NERC-funded researchers.

Understanding users' requirements and expectations, including obstacles that may prevent someone using data is essential to meeting user needs. Therefore NERC is seeking the views of the wider community and would be grateful if you could spare the time (10 - 15 minutes) to complete an online questionnaire which will be available until 19 November 2010.

We appreciate that you may have recently been involved in similar marine focused exercises, but would welcome your views in the context of NERC responsibilities as a whole.

Your response will help us plan for future developments, in accordance with NERC’s Science Information Strategy, and will provide the basis for further discussion and consultation. The results of the study will be made available through the NERC website early 2011.

NERC's data holdings and Science Information Strategy

The Earth is relentlessly changing. Tracing and understanding past environmental change plays an important role in the prediction of future environmental change. The data held by NERC consists of historical records accumulated over decades that provide a valuable resource to support research, survey and monitoring activities and for users in academia, government, the public sector, industry and commerce.

NERC has recently launched a new Science Information Strategy. It has been created to provide a framework to work more closely and effectively with the scientific communities, both internal and external, in delivering data and information management services to support its five year science strategy, the Next Generation Science for the Planet Earth.

Vocabulary Editor Client launched by BODC

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 16:24:00 +0000

The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) announces the launch of the Vocabulary Editor Client (version 1.0) which allows external authorities 'editing access' to controlled vocabularies held within the NERC Vocabulary Server, which is hosted by BODC.

Within the VocabEditor Client authorised editors may maintain terms — insert, modify or deprecate — within the lists under their governance without the need for manual interaction by BODC.

The Vocabulary server provides access to 137 lists containing more than 137,000 standardised terms that cover a broad spectrum of disciplines of relevance to the oceanographic and wider community.

Using standardised sets of terms, otherwise known as 'controlled vocabularies', in metadata and to label data solves the problem of ambiguities associated with data markup. It also enables records to be interpreted by computers, opening up the data sets to a whole world of possibilities for computer aided manipulation, distribution and long term use.

In the real world, it is not always possible or agreeable for data providers to use the same term. In such cases, controlled vocabularies can be used as a medium to which data centres can map their equivalent terms. V1.1 includes methods that access over 101,000 mappings held between terms in the vocabulary server.

BODC has contributed to the 'Charting Progress 2 : The state of UK seas' (CP2) report

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:15:00 +0000

The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) has contributed to the Charting Progress 2 (CP2) report which was launched publicly on 21 July 2010 by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Natural Environment and Fisheries. The report provides the most comprehensive assessment of the current state of the UK's seas and is based on robust, peer-reviewed evidence collected by a number of UK marine agencies.

To help achieve the Government's goal of 'clean, safe, healthy, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas' the first Charting Progress (CP) report was published in 2005. This provided an initial assessment of the UK marine environment and identified key areas for improvement, including new strategies for effective monitoring, reducing contaminant levels and improved data management.

CP2 looks at the effectiveness of the CP strategies and identifies where further work is needed. Its findings will be used in policy-making decisions.

How has BODC contributed?

The evidence in CP2 comes from data collected by the UK Marine Monitoring and Assessment Strategy (UKMMAS) Evidence Groups which are presented in detail in the four Feeder Reports, namely

*The Ocean Processes Feeder Report
The Healthy and Biologically Diverse Seas Feeder Report
*The Clean and Safe Seas Feeder Report — includes sections authored by BODC staff
The Productive Seas Feeder Report

BODC managed data holdings were used in two (*) of these four Feeder Reports. For example, the Marine Environment Monitoring and Assessment National database (MERMAN) provides the evidence base for the Clean and Safe Seas Feeder Report. MERMAN was established following a CP recommendation and is managed by BODC on behalf of the Clean Safe Seas Evidence Group. It stores contaminant data collected in accordance with the UK's monitoring requirements.

Additionally, a key action from CP was to improve the effectiveness of marine monitoring programmes. To meet this need BODC developed the United Kingdom Directory of the Marine Observing Systems (UKDMOS). This web-based application provides information to help coordinate the UK monitoring programmes.

European Directory of Marine Environmental Data (EDMED)

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 23:40:00 +0000

On behalf of the SeaDataNet community the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) announce the release of a new display interface for the European Directory of Marine Environmental Data (EDMED) version 1.0. EDMED is searchable via either the SeaDataNet or BODC web sites.

What is EDMED?

EDMED is a comprehensive reference to the marine datasets and collections held within European research laboratories. It provides marine scientists, engineers and policy makers with a simple mechanism for data discovery.

Its origins date back to 1991 and it has undergone various revisions under the SEA-SEARCH and SeaDataNet initiatives. It has established itself as a European standard for indexing and searching datasets relating to the marine environment.

It covers a wide range of disciplines, for example

marine meteorology and atmospheric chemistry
physical, chemical and biological oceanography
human impact on the environment
fisheries and aquaculture
coastal and estuarine studies
marine geology and geophysics

EDMED catalogues datasets, irrespective of their format. Entries describe

digital databases or files
analogue records — paper charts, hard-copy tabulations
photographs and videos
geological samples
biological specimens

Directory entries are prepared by institutes and collated nationally. These national directories are combined to provide a single centralised system managed by BODC.

New National Oceanography Centre Director appointed.

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 16:33:00 +0000

The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) wishes to welcome Professor Edward Hill as the new Director of our host laboratory, the NERC's National Oceanography Centre (NOC). He takes up his new role with immediate effect and we are looking forward to working with him.

NOC was formed on 01 April 2010 by bringing together into a single institution the NERC-managed activity at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) and the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (POL) in Liverpool.

Professor Hill, the former director of NOCS, was selected to lead the new centre following an open recruitment and selection process. Professor Andrew Willmott, the former director of POL, will be a key member of the senior leadership team for NOC.

NOC will work in close partnership with the wider marine science community to create the integrated research capability needed to tackle the big environmental issues facing the world. Research priorities will include the oceans' role in climate change, sea level change and the future of the Arctic Ocean.

BODC joins the SeaDataNet Virtual Data System

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:04:00 +0000

The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC), with an initial contribution of more than 10,000 data series, has joined 24 other SeaDataNet partners actively providing data through the SeaDataNet Virtual Data System. The system is based on an index, the Common Data Index (CDI), which is populated with ISO19115-based metadata records to describe data stored in either netCDF or a simple ASCII format.

The CDI is searchable through a portal interface, which provides a range of filtering options to identify data (profile, time series or trajectory) of interest that may be added to a 'shopping trolley' for subsequent delivery.

Most data in the system are freely available under the terms and conditions of the SeaDataNet licence but some may require negotiation with the data owners before they can be released. User registration, which includes agreeing to the SeaDataNet licence, is mandatory.

The SeaDataNet partnership brings together 49 major European institutes and marine data centres from 35 countries in and around Europe. These include

40 National Oceanographic Data Centres and Satellite Data Centres — representing the backbone of the marine data and information infrastructure
Research laboratories and modelling centres — experts in the development of value-added products
Four International Organisations

They manage large sets of data, originating from their own institutes and from other parties in their country, using a variety of data management systems and configurations.

Oceanology International 2010

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:46:00 +0000

The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) will be participating in the forthcoming Oceanology International event (Oi10). This takes place from 09-11 March 2010 at ExCeL London, the international exhibition and conference centre in London’s Docklands.

Oceanology International is the world’s premier meeting place for the marine science and ocean technology community. Exhibits will include the latest innovations from a huge selection of marine technology suppliers, and the event will also include a conference, visiting vessels and live demonstrations.

BODC will have its own stand (L250), in the ‘Next generation UK marine science’ grouping. We will focus on

Online data search and delivery
Latest projects e.g. GEOTRACES
End-to-end data management

Come and visit us and pick up a BODC brochure, a free GEBCO poster (showing the GEBCO world map) and, new for 2010, a BODC badge!

Download a floorplan of the stands at Oi10 (751 KB)

BODC request (ASCII) format — your opinion

noreply@blogger.com (British Oceanographic Data Centre) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:15:00 +0000

Data standardisation, in terms of both parameters and file format, is essential in professional data management.

BODC distributes data in a variety of standard formats. One of these, our BODC request (ASCII) format, has been in existence since the early 1980s. It comprises several lines of fixed-length header information (basic metadata) followed by the data cycles (and associated quality control flags) listed one per line.

Until now we have refrained from changing this standard, as we were aware that our regular users had developed code for automatic data handling. Increasingly, however, the header design is limiting the information we need to present as well as being out of sync with standards elsewhere.

As part of our continuing commitment to improve our service to the marine community we feel that now is the time to consider a major update to our ASCII data format and we would value your opinion.

Such a change may cause inconvenience so we want to provide you with an opportunity to comment before we embark on an update. We would be pleased to hear your comments. When contacting us, please include information on the software you regularly use with this data format. This will help us tailor the design change to your needs.