Identification

Title

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.

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

http://doi.org/10.17031/645110fb81749

name: DOI URL

description: A link to the web service or dataset

http://www.dassh.ac.uk/

name: DASSH website

description: A link to the general host site

Unique resource identifier

code

DASSHDT00000522

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326

Additional information source

https://www.westernchannelobservatory.org.uk/data.php

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

biota

oceans

biota

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Keyword set

keyword value

Keyword set

keyword value

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2008-01-06

Keyword set

keyword value

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2009-11-16

Keyword set

keyword value

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2011-07-06

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

-4.4130

East bounding longitude

-3.9955

North bounding latitude

50.3561

South bounding latitude

49.9407

Extent

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2009-06-18

code identifying the extent

Western Channel and Celtic Sea

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2009-05-01

code identifying the extent

29E5

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2010-01-01

code identifying the extent

epipelagic water column

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

1903-02-02

End position

2022-08-31

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2023-04-13

date type

creation

effective date

2023-03-01

date type

revision

effective date

2023-03-01

Frequency of update

asNeeded

Quality and validity

Lineage

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.

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Open Access; Open Government Licence

Constraint set

Limitations on public access

Open Access

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

organisation name

Plymouth Marine Laboratory

email address

aat@pml.ac.uk

responsible party role

originator

Responsible party

organisation name

Plymouth Marine Laboratory

email address

ajmc@pml.ac.uk

responsible party role

originator

Responsible party

contact position

Data Manager

organisation name

Data Archive for Seabed Species and Habitats (DASSH)

full postal address

Marine Biological Association of the UK, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill

Plymouth

PL1 2PB

telephone number

01752 633102

facsimile number

01752 633291

email address

dassh.enquiries@mba.ac.uk

responsible party role

custodian

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

contact position

Plankton Ecologist

organisation name

Plymouth Marine Laboratory

email address

aat@pml.ac.uk

responsible party role

pointOfContact

organisation name

Plymouth Marine Laboratory

email address

dassh.enquiries@mba.ac.uk

responsible party role

pointOfContact

organisation name

Plymouth Marine Laboratory

email address

ajmc@pml.ac.uk

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2024-11-29

Metadata language