BODC quoted in The Observer

A recent NERC research cruise, on which the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) provided on-board data management, was featured in The Observer last Sunday (25 January). The article, 'The secrets of the shelf seas – one of Earth's most important ecosystems' discussed Shelf Seas Biogeochemistry (SSB), a major UK research programme that aims to improve our understanding of how nutrients and carbon dioxide are cycled in the shelf seas surrounding the UK and north west Europe.

Colony of salps floating under the RRS Discovery during DY018. ©

Dr Louise Darroch, BODC's Data Manager for SSB, has participated on two of the project's cruises to the Celtic Sea. She was interviewed by the newspaper about her participation in the second cruise, DY018, which took place on NERC's new research ship, RRS Discovery.

SSB is co-funded by NERC and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra). BODC will manage data collected during a large fieldwork campaign due to end later this year. As well as securing and quality controlling the resulting data, BODC will also facilitate data exchange between SSB programme members and the general public.

There's more information about SSB at the project website. For more details of the DY018, see the Principal Scientist's blog.