The data set includes the classical oceanographic parameters of temperature, salinity, nutrients, oxygen, pH, alkalinity, and chlorophyll-a. This data set comprises more than 100,000 profiles collected by UK research and naval vessels in the shelf seas around the UK, the North Atlantic, the Norwegian Sea, the Barents Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the South Atlantic, the Southern Oceans, the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, the East Indian Archipelago (Indonesia) and the Pacific Ocean since the beginning of the twentieth century. In recent years, conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) data have been collected in a higher resolution form than water bottle data; these have been included in this data set in a reduced resolution/water bottle form and merged with any available chemical parameters. This data set is one of the most complete of its kind in the world; the majority of the data known to have been collected prior to 1970 have been 'rescued' and work will continue to rescue the remainder. All of the profiles in this data set have been quality checked, cross-checked against original documentation, and all duplications removed. This data set has been compiled by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Oceanographic Data Centre and is available from the ICES website.

An Alternative Framework to Assess Marine Ecosystem Functioning in Shelf Seas (AlterEco) will utilise a small fleet of submarine and surface autonomous vehicles combined with ongoing observational programmes to capture a seasonal cycle of physical, chemical and biological measurements on repeat transects over ~150km in the North Sea between November 2017 and January 2019. This dataset contains near real-time hydrographic measurements through the water column obtained from submarine Slocum gliders and Seagliders. The submarine vehicles have also been equipped with auxiliary sensors such as turbulence probes, nutrient sensors and acoustic sensors. Data from these platforms will be converted into the international 'Everyone's Gliding Observatories (EGO)' exchange format. This dataset will also contain measurements taken from CTDs deployed on eight cruises to provide calibration data for the autonomous vehicles. AlterEco involves collaboration between scientists at a number of organisations (National Oceanography Centre (NOC, lead), University of East Anglia (UEA), University of Liverpool (UoL), Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas). In addition, there are a number of UK and international project partners.

The data set comprises measurements of temperature, salinity, oxygen, chlorophyll and nutrients from two locations near Port Erin, Isle of Man. Sea surface temperature has been measured at Port Erin breakwater (54 05.113N, 04 46.083W) on a twice-daily basis from 1904 to the present day, accompanied by twice-daily sea surface salinity measurements since 1965. Since 1954, further measurements have been taken at the Cypris station in Port Erin Bay, 5km west of Port Erin (54 05.5N, 004 50.0W). The Cypris data have been collected at frequencies ranging from weekly to monthly depending on season, boat availability and weather, and comprise measurements of temperature at 0, 5, 10, 20 and 37m since 1954; salinity, dissolved oxygen and phosphate at 0 and 37m since 1954; silicate at 0 and 37m since 1958; nitrate and nitrite and 0 and 37 m since 1960; chlorophyll a at 0 m since 1966; ammonia at 0 and 37m since 1992; total dissolved nitrogen at 0 and 37m from 1996-2005; and total dissolved phosphorus at 0 and 37m from 1996-June 2002. At Port Erin temperatures were recorded using a Meteorological Office issue thermometer from the mid-1900s to October 2006. Since then Vemco temperature autologgers and Star-Oddi DST CTD loggers have been deployed from the Port Erin lifeboat slip and are exchanged on an approximately monthly basis. Until November 1961 temperature was recorded in degrees Fahrenheit; these data have since been converted to degrees Celsius. At the Cypris station water samples were collected with either a Nansen-Pettersen or an NIO bottle from 1954-2005. The Nansen-Pettersen bottle was used in conjunction with an insulated thermometer, while the NIO bottle was used in conjunction with a mercury reversing thermometer. From 2006 onwards an RTM 4002 X digital deep sea reversing thermometer has been used with an NIO bottle. Salinity was determined by titration against silver nitrate until 1965, thereafter using inductively coupled salinometers (Plessey 6230N until June 1998; Guildline Portasal from July 1998). Nutrients are estimated colorimetrically and dissolved oxygen is determined by the Winkler technique. Until 2006 chlorophyll-a was estimated using the trichromatic methods recommended by SCOR-UNESCO Working Group 17. Since that year the spectroscopic methods of Aminot & Rey (2000) have been used. Dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus were measured using the persulphate digestion method adapted from Valderama (1981). The Cypris station data are frequently split into the Cypris I (D. John Slinn) data set comprising data from 1954-1992 and the Cypris II data set from 1992-present. Data from the Port Erin and Cypris stations are sometimes known collectively as the ‘Port Erin Bay’ data set. Data from Port Erin Bay form part of the Isle of Man GAL Coastal Monitoring Sites network, which is described in a separate EDMED entry. The data were collected by the Port Erin Marine Laboratory (part of the University of Liverpool) until its closure in 2006. Sampling has since been taken over by the Isle of Man Government Laboratory. The data are managed by the British Oceanographic Data Centre.

The data set comprises measurements of temperature, salinity, oxygen, chlorophyll and nutrients from six locations near Port Erin, Isle of Man. The data collected at Port Erin breakwater (54 05.113N, 04 46.083W) and the Cypris station in Port Erin Bay (54 05.5N, 004 50.0W) are described separately in the "Port Erin (Isle of Man, Irish Sea) Temperature, Salinity and Nutrient Data Set (1904-)". The remaining four stations are described here. Data have been collected at the Resa (also known as Bayrnagh), approximately 5km east of Santon Head, Isle of Man (54 05.00N, 04 30.00W) at least once per month since 1994, with a hiatus from 2003-2006. The data comprise measurements of temperature at 0, 5, 10, 20 and 37m; salinity, dissolved oxygen, phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, silicate and ammonia at 0 and 37m; and chlorophyll-a at the surface. Total dissolved nitrogen was also measured at 0 and 37m between 1996 and 2003, while total dissolved phosphorus was measured at 0 and 37m between 1996 and June 2002. Corresponding data have been collected at Laxey Bay (54 12.00N, 04 23.00W), Ramsey Bay (54 20.47N, 04 17.47W) and Jurby Head Targets area (54 21.50N, 04 38.00W) at least once a month since 2006. Laxey Bay data comprise temperature at 0, 5, 10, 20 and 24m; salinity, dissolved oxygen, phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, silicate and ammonia at 0 and 24m; and chlorophyll-a at the surface. Ramsey Bay data comprise temperature at 0, 5, 10 and 19m; salinity, dissolved oxygen, phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, silicate and ammonia at 0 and 19m; and chlorophyll-a at the surface. Targets data comprise temperature at 0, 5, 10, 20 and 43m; salinity, dissolved oxygen, phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, silicate and ammonia at 0 and 24m; and chlorophyll-a at the surface. Prior to 2006 water samples and temperature measurements were collected using either a Nansen-Pettersen bottle with an insulated thermometer or an NIO bottle with a mercury reversing thermometer. Since 2006 an NIO bottle and a Sensoren Instrumente Systeme (SIS) RTM 4002 X digital deep sea reversing thermometer have been used. Salinity was determined by titration against silver nitrate until 1965, thereafter using inductively coupled salinometers (Plessey 6230N until June 1998; Guildline Portasal from July 1998). Nutrients are estimated colorimetrically and dissolved oxygen is determined by the Winkler technique, as outlined in Jacobsen et al. (1950). Until 2006, chlorophyll-a was estimated using the trichromatic methods recommended by SCOR-UNESCO Working Group 17. Since that year the spectroscopic methods of Aminot & Rey (2000) have been used. Dissolved nitrogen and dissolved phosphorus were measured using the persulphate digestion method adapted from Valderama (1981). The data were collected by the Port Erin Marine Laboratory (part of the University of Liverpool) until its closure in 2006. Sampling has since been taken over by the Isle of Man Government Laboratory (GAL). The data are managed by the British Oceanographic Data Centre.

This dataset contains data collected during the integration and demonstration of the newly developed SenseOCEAN multifunctional sensor package. The data were collected from field tests in Kiel Fjord (Germany), the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea in September 2016 and May 2017. New marine chemical sensors (such as optode sensors (O2, CO2, NH3, pH), lab on chip (LOC) sensors (NO3-, NO2-, PO43-, Fe2+, pH) and electrochemical sensors (silicate, N2O)), an integrated multifunctional sensor, plug and play Modbus module and data assembly centre were developed by the EU consortia, SenseOCEAN. The consortia consisted of TU Graz, Pyro Science GmbH, Chelsea Technology Group, Aarhus University, Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), CNRS-LEGOS, Max Planck Institute, nke Instrumentation, TE Laboratories, University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre (NOC), Unisense A/S and the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC). The sensors and Modbus module were deployed for demonstrations on various platforms including CTD Rosettes, fixed-position pontoons and NKE PROVOR profiling (ARGO) floats. The data were collected as part of the SenseOCEAN Collaborative Project funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under grant agreement No. 614141. The main aim of the SenseOCEAN project was to develop new chemical sensors for in situ measurements of the marine environment and to combine these to produce an integrated multifunctional biogeochemical sensor package. The coordinator was Professor Douglas Connelly at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK. The data are held by BODC as a series of ASCII data files conforming to the NASA AMES 1001 format together with a PDF document that describes the data set.

This dataset comprises 110 hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, during January - February 1989 from a pre-determined 123-station survey grid covering the southern North Sea (south of 56N). 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 Institute of Oceanographic Sciences Bidston Laboratory as part of the North Sea Project water column survey.

This dataset comprises 135 hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, during February - March 1989 from a pre-determined 123-station survey grid covering the southern North Sea (south of 56N). 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 Institute of Oceanographic Sciences Bidston Laboratory as part of the North Sea Project water column survey.

The data set contains a variety of physical, chemical and biological parameters. Hydrographic profiles provided temperature, salinity, fluorescence, dissolved oxygen and transmissance measurements, which were supplemented by time series of surface ocean and meteorological properties. Time series of current velocities, temperature and sea level were also collected. Biogeochemical and biological analyses of water samples provided nutrient, phytoplankton and zooplankton data, while production data were derived from incubation experiments. The data were collected at seven stations in the Celtic Sea with varying physical and biological characteristics. Fieldwork was undertaken between 15th and 29th May 2000, with each station being occupied for 24 hours. Data were collected via shipboard deployment of CTD profilers and undulators with accompanying auxiliary sensors, and discrete water sampling. Further data were obtained from three moorings including acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs), temperature recorders and bottom pressure recorders that were also deployed and recovered during the study period. Measurements were collected during RRS Discovery cruise D246 as part of the multidisciplinary study of the interactions between physical processes and biological production in contrasting pelagic shelf waters. An additional goal of the study was to map the tidal front situated in the St George's Channel. The study was co-ordinated by Plymouth Marine Laboratory and the research involved 28 scientists and technicians from 14 separate institutions situated in five different countries. Data are managed by the British Oceanographic Data Centre.

This dataset comprises hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, in March 1989 from stations covering the southern North Sea (south of 56N). 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 Plymouth Marine Laboratory as part of the North Sea Project Air-sea Exchanges Process Study.

This dataset comprises 93 hydrographic data profiles, collected by a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor package, during September - October 1990 from stations covering the southern North Sea and Dover Straits. 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 Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory as part of the North Sea Project.