Tuesday, 22 March 2011

BODC maintains Investors in People (IIP) standard

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.

Wednesday, 16 March 2011

Data management for the ANDREX and DIMES programmes

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.

Thursday, 10 March 2011

GEBCO Web Map Service (WMS)

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

  • 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.