The data set comprises 2193 profiles of turbidity from an area of the Severn Estuary (UK) between the Shoots and Bridgwater Bay between 1974 and 1978. The data were collected as analogue records of continuous vertical profiles on a time series cross-section basis, where possible, over 13.5 hours from a drifting ship. All measurements were collected between 0 m and 39 m depth. The data coverage is derived from 172 stations along 17 survey lines, the density of coverage varying between 1 and 99 records per station. Each analogue record was digitised as approximately 200 pairs of XY coordinates. The X ordinates were then converted to depth (in metres) using a depth calibration and the Y ordinates to parts per million (PPM) of sediment using siltmeter calibration data. The Fluid Mud data bank was designed by the (former) Institute of Oceanographic Sciences (IOS) Taunton, UK, and the data were originally stored at IOS on a PDP 11 computer. They were then moved to an Oracle RDBMS at the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) and stored as the Bristol Channel Suspended Sediments Data Bank.

This document describes CTD data collected on three cruises undertaken within the Dogger Bay Bank between August and November 2004, the RV Endeavour 12/04 (September 30 – October 10), 13/04 (August 31 – September 04) and 14/04 (October 22 – November 01). Ship-deployed CTDs were used to collect data at stations throughout each of the cruises. The cruises formed the research component of CEFAS project A1225 – North Sea Dogger Bank. This project is aimed at achieving a better understanding of the dynamics of the circulation processes of the seas around the UK, in order to characterise the extent and nature of density driven and seasonal jet-like circulation which acts as a direct and rapid pathway for transport of material. This project was conducted by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), Lowestoft Laboratory, led by Dr. Stephen Dye. The CTD data have been received by BODC as raw files from the RV Endeavour, processed and quality controlled using in-house BODC procedures and are available online to download from the BODC website.

This dataset comprises 143 hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, during September - October 1991. It includes CTD anchor stations and grid surveys in the Humber Estuary, Humber Plume and the Wash. A complete list of all data parameters are described by the SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary (PDV) keywords assigned in this metadata record. The data were collected by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Lowestoft Fisheries Laboratory as part of the Joint Nutrient Study I (JoNuS).

This dataset comprises hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, during April 1991. It incorporates CTD sections and anchor stations in the Humber Estuary, Humber Plume and the Wash plus a CTD section E-W across the North Sea along 53N. The data were collected by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Lowestoft Fisheries Laboratory as part of the Joint Nutrient Study I (JoNuS).

This dataset comprises hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, during January 1991. It incorporates CTD sections offshore from the mouths of the Tyne and the Tees plus CTD sections and anchor stations in the Humber Estuary, Humber Plume and the Wash. The data were collected by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Lowestoft Fisheries Laboratory as part of the Joint Nutrient Study I (JoNuS).

This dataset comprises 33 hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, in July 1993 from stations on the shelf off the Tejo Delta between 38 - 39 N, 8 - 10 W. A complete list of all data parameters are described by the SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary (PDV) keywords assigned in this metadata record. The data were collected by the Instituto Hidrografico, Portugal as part of the Ocean Margin Exchange (OMEX) I project.

The dataset comprises 76 hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, from across the North Sea, Irish Sea and St. George's Channel areas including specifically the North Channel and the Malin Shelf, during June and July of 1996. A complete list of all data parameters are described by the SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary (PDV) keywords assigned in this metadata record. The data were collected by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Lowestoft Fisheries Laboratory.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) Marine National Environmental Monitoring Buoy Network provides real time, high frequency environmental data from strategic locations around the Scottish coast, as part of SEPA obligations to monitor the marine environment. The monitoring buoy network has been in place in some places from as early as 1996 with more buoys being deployed for ongoing measurements of the marine environment. Continuous monitoring equipment gathers dissolved oxygen, water temperature, salinity and chlorophyll-a data at regular intervals. The data is stored internally and downloaded at regular maintenance intervals. Data is collected by SEPA from monitoring buoys, mostly every 15 minutes. The data was submitted to the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) for "data banking." Data has been removed as part of the SEPA quality control procedure leading to periods of absent data. This also occurs through power failure or lack of deployment. Further quality control by BODC will flag suspect data. The data is used to assess the state of the marine environment at representative locations. Salinity is used to indicate changes in water masses. Salinity decreases as freshwater inputs increase and oxygen is more soluble in freshwater than seawater. Water temperature is closely linked to seasonal changes and oxygen becomes less soluble as the water temperature increases. Chlorophyll-a is an indicator of the biomass of phytoplankton. Phytoplankton blooms are common occurrences at the start and end of the growing season in spring and autumn however excessive phytoplankton is indicated by enhanced abundance throughout the growing season (90 percentile concentration >15 µg/l measured from April to September). Excessive phytoplankton growth may cause an undesirable disturbance to the ecosystem if the decaying algae remove oxygen from the water column and sea bed as a result of microbial breakdown. Dissolved oxygen is one of the most important indicators of the health of a water body and high levels are needed to support a variety of marine life. Dissolved oxygen concentrations are affected by salinity, temperature and phytoplankton growth. Dissolved oxygen produced by photosynthesis may result in supersaturation (>100%) during the growing season. Dissolved oxygen is removed by the microbial breakdown of organic matter.

This collection comprises physical measurements of the water column and surface waters, together with supporting discrete chemical and biological datasets. The data were obtained from the Irish Sea and in the sea off western Scotland over 4 periods: 17 and 23 August 2011 and 06 - 07 March 2012, all collected on Seiont IV cruises and 15 - 22 June 2012 obtained using the RV Prince Madog. These datasets and their collection methods are as follows: 1) LISST particle size data - A LISST 100X type C laser diffraction instrument was lowered in a frame from the ship and the depth-averaged volumes of particles in 32 size classes in a water column from the surface to a depth of 10 m (or the bottom, where shallower) were measured. 2) CTD profiles of conductivity, temperature, sigma-theta and salinity. At each station, a CTD with attached rosette was lowered, with data measurements taken. 3) SPM, mineral SPM, chlorophyll and CDOM water sample data. At each station a surface water sample was collected either in a bucket or in a rosette sampler on the CTD and triplicate sub-samples were filtered and subsequently dried and weighed, baked (at 500°C for 3 hours to remove organic material) and weighed again. 4) CDOM discrete samples taken from CTD and underway. Surface water samples collected at each station were filtered through 0.2 μm filters and the spectral variation of the absorption coefficient of the dissolved material in the filtrate was measured in a 10 cm cell in a Shimadzu 1600 dual-beam spectrophotometer, using distilled water as a reference.. 5) Water column inherent optical property profiles. Measurements of beam attenuation were made using a Sea Tech T1000 transmissometer (20cm pathlength) fixed to the CTD on the RV Prince Madog. At some stations, vertical profiles of downwelling irradiance and upwelling radiance were made with a PRR radiometer. These cruises formed the fieldwork component of the NERC-funded project “Measurement of the abundance and optical significance of sub-micron sized particles in the ocean”. The project aimed to use different magnifications and commercially available in-situ particle sizing instruments to create a package of instruments for measuring the undisturbed particle size distributions from 0.2 μm to 1 mm. This package will first be used in a turbulence tank to 'film' the flocculation process. The insight this gives will be used to construct new theoretical models of the particle size distribution. Because the camera also measures the shape of the particles, differences between observed and calculated optical properties can be compared, for the first time, to particle shape. Finally, the complete dataset will be collated to determine what size particles, under what conditions, are primarily responsible for the signals seen in visible band satellite images of the oceans. The NERC-funded project was held under lead grant reference NE/H022090/1 with child grants NE/H020853/1 and NE/H021493/1. The lead grant was held at Bangor University, School of Ocean Sciences by Professor David Bowers and ran from 01 April 2011 to 31 March 2014. Grant NE/H020853/1 was held at the University of Plymouth, School of Marine Science and Engineering by Dr. William Alexander Nimmo Smith and ran from 01 October 2010 to 30 September 2013. Finally, grant NE/H021493/1 was held at the University of Strathclyde Physics Department by Dr. David McKee and ran from 01 April 2011 to 31 March 2014. All data have been received by BODC as raw files from the RV Prince Madog and Seiont IV, processed and quality controlled using in-house BODC procedures.

This dataset comprises hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, during June 1995. It incorporates a CTD survey in the Irish Sea. The data were collected by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Lowestoft Fisheries Laboratory.