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Metadata: The Western Channel Observatory: a century of oceanographic, chemical and biological data compiled from pelagic and benthic habitats in the Western English Channel 1903 - 2022
Abstract:
The Western Channel Observatory (WCO) comprises a series of pelagic, benthic and atmospheric sampling sites within 40 km of Plymouth UK, which have been sampled by the Plymouth Institutes on a regular basis since 1903. This longevity of recording and the high frequency of observations provide a unique combination of attributes, for example temperature data began to be collected in 1903 and the reference station L4 has been sampled on a weekly basis since 1988 where nearly 400 planktonic taxa have been enumerated. Some of these data are publicly available, but use of the WCO data is hampered by different levels of data availability and formatting. This dataset integrates average monthly values of some of the key pelagic and benthic measurements for the inshore site L4 (~54 m water depth), the offshore site E1 (~75 m depth) and L5. In summary, the data include: temperature (from 1903); macronutrients (from 1934); dissolved inorganic carbon and total alkalinity (from 2008); methane and nitrous oxide (from 2011); chlorophyll a (from 1992); pigments determined by HPLC (from 1999); pico and nanoplankton groups from flow cytometry (8 functional groups from 2007); phytoplankton (6 functional groups from 1992); FlowCam (6 groups from 2012), Noctiluca (from 1997); zooplankton (8 groups from 1988); Calanus helgolandicus egg production rates (from 1992); fish larvae from Young fish trawl survey (4 groups from 1924); benthic macrofauna (4 groups from 2008); demersal fish (19 families from 2008); blue shark, Prionace glauca (from 1958); 16s alpha diversity for sediment and water column (from 2012). These data have varying coverage in time and depth resolution. The metadata provides pointers to the source data and other related WCO data sets and outputs not compiled here. We hope that making the data fully accessible, and including units of both abundance and biomass, will stimulate a variety of uptakes. These may include uses as an educational resource for projects, for models and budgets or for analysis of seasonality and long-term change in a coupled benthic-pelagic system and for supporting UK and NE Atlantic policy and management.
Data holder:
Data Archive for Seabed Species and Habitats (DASSH)
Use constraints:
Open Access
| Other details | ||
| Internal code | Internally assigned metadata identifier | 2740 |
| Title | The title is used to provide a brief and precise description of the dataset such as 'Date', 'Originating organisation/programme', 'Location' and 'Type of survey'. All acronyms and abbreviations should be reproduced in full. | The Western Channel Observatory: a century of oceanographic, chemical and biological data compiled from pelagic and benthic habitats in the Western English Channel 1903 - 2022 |
| File Identifier | The File Identifier is a code, preferably a GUID, that is globally unique and remains with the same metadata record even if the record is edited or transferred between portals or tools. | b6e004be1339d54cd648f850ccaa1036 |
| Resource Identifier | This is the code assigned by the data owner. | DASSHDT00000522 |
| Resource type | The resource type will likely be a dataset but could also be a series (collection of datasets with a common specification) or a service. | dataset |
| Start date | This describes the date the resource starts. This may only be the year if month and day are not known | 1903-02-02 |
| End date | This describes the date the resource ends. This may only be the year if month and day are not known | 2022-08-31 |
| Spatial resolution | This describes the spatial resolution of the dataset or the spatial limitations of the service. | inapplicable |
| Frequency of updates | This describes the frequency with which the resource is modified or updated i.e. a monitoring programme that samples once per year has a frequency that is described as 'annually'. | asNeeded |
| Abstract | The abstract provides a clear and brief statement of the content of the resource. | The Western Channel Observatory (WCO) comprises a series of pelagic, benthic and atmospheric sampling sites within 40 km of Plymouth UK, which have been sampled by the Plymouth Institutes on a regular basis since 1903. This longevity of recording and the high frequency of observations provide a unique combination of attributes, for example temperature data began to be collected in 1903 and the reference station L4 has been sampled on a weekly basis since 1988 where nearly 400 planktonic taxa have been enumerated. Some of these data are publicly available, but use of the WCO data is hampered by different levels of data availability and formatting. This dataset integrates average monthly values of some of the key pelagic and benthic measurements for the inshore site L4 (~54 m water depth), the offshore site E1 (~75 m depth) and L5. In summary, the data include: temperature (from 1903); macronutrients (from 1934); dissolved inorganic carbon and total alkalinity (from 2008); methane and nitrous oxide (from 2011); chlorophyll a (from 1992); pigments determined by HPLC (from 1999); pico and nanoplankton groups from flow cytometry (8 functional groups from 2007); phytoplankton (6 functional groups from 1992); FlowCam (6 groups from 2012), Noctiluca (from 1997); zooplankton (8 groups from 1988); Calanus helgolandicus egg production rates (from 1992); fish larvae from Young fish trawl survey (4 groups from 1924); benthic macrofauna (4 groups from 2008); demersal fish (19 families from 2008); blue shark, Prionace glauca (from 1958); 16s alpha diversity for sediment and water column (from 2012). These data have varying coverage in time and depth resolution. The metadata provides pointers to the source data and other related WCO data sets and outputs not compiled here. We hope that making the data fully accessible, and including units of both abundance and biomass, will stimulate a variety of uptakes. These may include uses as an educational resource for projects, for models and budgets or for analysis of seasonality and long-term change in a coupled benthic-pelagic system and for supporting UK and NE Atlantic policy and management. |
| Lineage | Lineage includes the background information, history of the sources of data, data quality statements and methods. | This dataset integrates average monthly values of some of the key pelagic and benthic measurements for the inshore site L4 (~54 m water depth), the offshore site E1 (~75 m depth) and L5. In summary, the data include: temperature (from 1903); macronutrients (from 1934); dissolved inorganic carbon and total alkalinity (from 2008); methane and nitrous oxide (from 2011); chlorophyll a (from 1992); pigments determined by HPLC (from 1999); pico and nanoplankton groups from flow cytometry (8 functional groups from 2007); phytoplankton (6 functional groups from 1992); FlowCam (6 groups from 2012), Noctiluca (from 1997); zooplankton (8 groups from 1988); Calanus helgolandicus egg production rates (from 1992); fish larvae from Young fish trawl survey (4 groups from 1924); benthic macrofauna (4 groups from 2008); demersal fish (19 families from 2008); blue shark, Prionace glauca (from 1958); 16s alpha diversity for sediment and water column (from 2012). These data have varying coverage in time and depth resolution. Downloadable files include two Word metadata files containing detailed information on sampling and analysis method for each data type, data coverage and the availability of the source data. Authors/contributors for this data from Plymouth Marine Laboratory:Andrea McEvoy, Angus Atkinson, Ruth Airs, Ian Brown, Elaine Fileman, Helen Findlay, Louise McNeill, Tim Smyth, Paul Somerfield, Karen Tait, Glen Tarran, Simon Thomas, Claire Widdicombe, Malcolm Woodward, Amanda Beesley, James Fishwick, Hannah Haines, Carolyn Harris, Roger Harris, Penelope Lindeque, Thomas Mesher, Joana Nunes, Frances Perry, Andrew Rees, Stephen Widdicombe. Authors/contributors from the Marine Biological Association: Rachel Brittain, Clare Ostle, Dave Conway, Pierre Helaouet , David Johns, Dave Sims. |
| Additional information | This describes relevant references to the data e.g. reports, articles, websites plus other useful information not captured elsewhere. | https://www.westernchannelobservatory.org.uk/data.php |
| Related keywords | ||
| Keyword | General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Marine Environmental Data and Information Network |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | NDGO0005 | |
| Keyword title | data.gov.uk | |
| Keyword | General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Habitats and biotopes |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Oceanographic geographical features | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Species distribution | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Phytoplankton taxonomic abundance in water bodies | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Date and time | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Zoobenthos taxonomy-related wet weight biomass per unit area of the bed | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Biodiversity indices | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Phytoplankton taxonomic biomass in water bodies | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Fish biomass in water bodies | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Microzooplankton taxonomic abundance in water bodies | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Zooplankton taxonomy-related abundance per unit volume of the water column | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Zoobenthos taxonomic abundance | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Zooplankton taxonomy-related biomass expressed as carbon per unit volume of the water column | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Ammonium and ammonia concentration parameters in water bodies | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Nitrite concentration parameters in the water column | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Phosphate concentration parameters in the water column | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Fish taxonomy-related counts | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Silicate concentration parameters in the water column | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Molecular biology parameters | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Chlorophyll pigment concentrations in water bodies | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Temperature of the water column | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Fishing effort | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Flow cytometry parameters in water bodies | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | climate | |
| Geographical coverage | ||
| North | The northern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | 50.3561 |
| East | The eastern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | -3.9955 |
| South | The southern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | 49.9407 |
| West | The western-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | -4.413 |
| Regional sea | Western Channel and Celtic Sea | |
| 29E5 | ||
| epipelagic water column | ||
| Responsible organisations | ||
| Role | The point of contact is person or organisation with responsibility for the creation and maintenance of the metadata for the resource. | pointOfContact |
| Organisation name | Plymouth Marine Laboratory | |
| Individual name | Angus Atkinson | |
| Position name | Plankton Ecologist | |
| aat@pml.ac.uk | ||
| Role | The distributor is the person or organisation that distributes the resource. | distributor |
| Organisation name | Data Archive for Seabed Species and Habitats (DASSH) | |
| Individual name | Head of Science Marine Ecology and Biodiversity | |
| Position name | Data Manager | |
| Phone | 01752 633102 | |
| Fax | 01752 633291 | |
| Delivery point | Marine Biological Association of the UK, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill | |
| Postal code | PL1 2PB | |
| City | Plymouth | |
| dassh.enquiries@mba.ac.uk | ||
| Role | The originator is the person or organisation who created, collected or produced the resource. | originator |
| Organisation name | Plymouth Marine Laboratory | |
| Individual name | Angus Atkinson | |
| aat@pml.ac.uk | ||
| Role | The originator is the person or organisation who created, collected or produced the resource. | originator |
| Organisation name | Plymouth Marine Laboratory | |
| Individual name | Andrea McEvoy | |
| ajmc@pml.ac.uk | ||
| Role | The custodian is the person or organisation that accepts responsibility for the resource and ensures appropriate care and maintenance. If a dataset has been lodged with a Data Archive Centre for maintenance then this organisation is be entered here. | custodian |
| Organisation name | Data Archive for Seabed Species and Habitats (DASSH) | |
| Position name | Data Manager | |
| Phone | 01752 633102 | |
| Fax | 01752 633291 | |
| Delivery point | Marine Biological Association of the UK, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill | |
| Postal code | PL1 2PB | |
| City | Plymouth | |
| dassh.enquiries@mba.ac.uk | ||
| Resource locators | ||
| Locator URL | Web address (URL) that links to the resource | http://doi.org/10.17031/645110fb81749 |
| Locator name | Name of the web resource | DOI URL |
| Locator URL | Web address (URL) that links to the resource | http://www.dassh.ac.uk/ |
| Locator name | Name of the web resource | DASSH website |
| Dataset constraints | ||
| 20 Limitations on Public Access - Access constraints | otherRestrictions | |
| 20 Limitations on Public Access - Other constraints | This states any limitations on access to the data and uses free text. | Open Access |
| 21 Conditions for Access and Use - Use limitation | This states any constraints on use of the data. Multiple conditions can be recorded for different parts of the data resource. If no conditions apply, then `No condtions apply` is recorded. This uses free text. | Open Access; Open Government Licence |
| Version info | ||
| Date of publication | The publication date of the resource or if previously unpublished the date that the resource was made publicly available via the MEDIN network. | 2023-04-13 |
| Date of last revision | The most recent date that the resource was revised. | 2023-03-01 |
| Date of creation | The date that the resource was created. | 2023-03-01 |
| Harvest date | The date which this record has been (re)harvested from the provider. | 2026-04-12 |
| Metadata date | The date when the content of this metadata record was last updated. | 2024-11-29 |
| Metadata standard name | The name of the metadata standard used to create this metadata | MEDIN Discovery metadata standard |
| Metadata standard version | The version of the MEDIN Discovery Metadata Standard used to create the metadata record | 2.3.8 |