Improved 'online shopping' for data

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:

1. improved project searches — data linked to multiple projects as appropriate.
2. cruise searches — search for data collected during a particular research cruise.
3. repeat time series (fixed station) searches — find data from key locations, for example the Drake passage or the Ellett Line repeat sections.
4. 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

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

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

RRS James Cook - pre-dawn sampling ©

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.