British Oceanographic Data Centre

British Oceanographic Data Centre
Centre Overview
Formed	1969
Location	Liverpool, UK L3 5DA
Director	Dr Juan Brown
Governing Body	Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Website & Contact Details
Website	[http://www.bodc.ac.uk www.bodc.ac.uk]
Email	[mailto:[e-mail] [e-mail]]
Telephone	[phone]

The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) is a national facility for looking after and distributing data about the marine environment. BODC deal with a range of physical, chemical and biological data, which help scientists provide answers to both local questions (such as the likelihood of coastal flooding) and global issues (such as the impact of climate change). BODC is the designated marine science data centre for the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). The centre provides a resource for science, education and industry, as well as the general public. BODC is hosted by the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (POL), based in Liverpool.

Approach and goals

BODC's approach to marine data management involves:
*Working alongside scientists during marine research projects
*Distributing data to scientists, education, industry and the public and improving online access to marine data
*Careful storage, quality control and archiving of data so they are unaffected by changes in technology and will be available into the future
*Producing innovative marine data products and digital atlases

History

The origins of BODC go back to 1969 when NERC created the British Oceanographic Data Service (BODS). Located at the National Institute of Oceanography, Wormley in Surrey, its purpose was to:
*Act as the UK’s National Oceanographic Data Centre
*Participate in the international exchange of data as part of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) network of national data centresIn 1975 BODS was transferred to Bidston Observatory on the Wirral, near Liverpool, as part of the newly formed Institute of Oceanographic Sciences. The following year BODS became the Marine Information and Advisory Service (MIAS) [http://www.soton.ac.uk/library/about/nol/mias.html] . Its primary activity was to manage the data collected from weather ships, oil rigs and data buoys.The data banking component of MIAS was restructured to form BODC in April 1989. Its mission was to 'operate as a world-class data centre in support of UK marine science'. BODC pioneered a start to finish approach to marine data management. This involved:
*Assisting in the collection of data at sea
*Quality control of data
*Assembling the data for use by the scientists
*The publication of data sets on CDROMIn December 2004, BODC moved to the purpose built Joseph Proudman Building on the campus of the University of Liverpool.

National role

BODC has a range of national roles and responsibilities:
*BODC performs data management for a variety of UK marine projects
*BODC maintains and develops the National Oceanographic Database (NODB), a collection of marine data sets originating mainly from UK research establishments
*BODC manages, checks and archives data from tide gauges around the UK coast for the National Tide Gauge Network, which aims to obtain high quality tidal information and to provide warning of possible flooding of coastal areas around the British Isles. This is part of the National Tidal & Sea Level Facility (NTSLF)
*BODC hosts the Marine Environmental Data and Information Network (MEDIN) [http://www.oceannet.org/] Project Manager
*BODC is one of six designated data centres that manage NERC's environmental data
*BODC has forged active partnerships with the following NERC marine research centres:
**British Antarctic Survey (BAS)
**National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS)
**Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML)
**Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (POL)
**Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS)
**Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU)

International role

BODC also has a range of international roles and responsibilities, for example:
*BODC is one of over 60 national oceanographic data centres that form part of the IOC’s International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) [http://www.iode.org/] , helping to ensure that marine data are used efficiently and are distributed to the widest possible audience
*BODC plays an active role in the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) [http://www.ices.dk/indexfla.asp] Marine Data Management, allowing the exchange of expertise and ideas for those in ICES member countries
*BODC is the international centre for creating, maintaining and publishing the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) [http://www.gebco.net/] Digital Atlas

Projects and initiatives

BODC is and has been involved with a wide range of national and international projects, including:

Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT)

:The AMT programme [http://www.bodc.ac.uk/projects/uk/amt/] undertook a twice yearly transect between the UK and the Falkland Islands to study the factors determining the ecological and biogeochemical variability in the planktonic ecosystems.

Autosub Under Ice (AUI)

:The AUI programme [http://www.bodc.ac.uk/projects/uk/aui/] investigated the role of sub-ice shelf processes in the climate system. The marine environment beneath floating ice shelves will be explored using Autosub

Enabling Parameter Discovery (EnParDis)

:EnParDis [http://www.bodc.ac.uk/projects/uk/enpardis/] was a project to develop BODC's Parameter Dictionary. Parameter dictionaries are used to label data with a standard description and are crucial when searching out and exchanging data
*Liverpool - East Anglia Coastal Study 2 (LEACOAST2)

:The LEACOAST2 project [http://www.bodc.ac.uk/projects/uk/leacoast2/] follows the LEACOAST project (2002 - 2005) in studying sediment transport around the sea defences at Sea Palling, Norfolk, UK

Marine Productivity (MarProd)

:MarProd [http://www.bodc.ac.uk/projects/uk/marprod/] helped to develop coupled models and observation systems for the pelagic ecosystem, with emphasis on the physical factors affecting zooplankton dynamics

NERC DataGrid

:The challenge for NERC DataGrid [http://www.bodc.ac.uk/projects/uk/ndg/] was to build an e-grid which makes data discovery, delivery and use much easier than it is now

Rapid Climate Change (RAPID)

::The RAPID programme [http://www.bodc.ac.uk/projects/uk/rapid/] aimed to improve understanding of the causes of sudden changes in the Earth's climate

Ocean Margin Exchange (OMEX)

:The OMEX project [http://www.bodc.ac.uk/projects/european/omex/] studied, measured and modelled the physical, chemical and biological processes and fluxes at the ocean margin - the interface between the open Atlantic ocean and the European continental shelf

SeaDataNet

:SeaDataNet [http://www.bodc.ac.uk/projects/european/seadatanet/] aims to develop a standardised, distributed system which provides transparent access to marine data sets and data products from countries in and around Europe. It will build on the work already completed by the SEA-SEARCH [http://www.bodc.ac.uk/projects/european/seasearch/] and EDIOS [http://www.bodc.ac.uk/projects/european/edios/] projects
*System of Industry Metocean data for the Offshore and Research Communities (SIMORC):SIMORC [http://www.bodc.ac.uk/projects/european/simorc/] aimed to create a central index and database of metocean data sets collected globally by the oil and gas industry

External links

* [http://www.bodc.ac.uk BODC homepage]
* [http://www.bodc.ac.uk/about/news_and_events/ BODC News and events]
* [http://www.nerc.ac.uk Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) homepage]
* [http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/sites/data/ NERC Data centres]
* [http://ndg.nerc.ac.uk/discovery NERC Data Discovery Service]
* [http://www.pol.ac.uk/ntslf/ National Tidal and Sea Level Facility (NTSLF)] External partner pages
* [http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/ British Antarctic Survey (BAS)]
* [http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/ National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS)]
* [http://www.pml.ac.uk/ Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML)]
* [http://www.pol.ac.uk Proudman Oceacanographic Laboratory (POL)]
* [http://www.sams.ac.uk/ Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS)]
* [http://www.smru.st-and.ac.uk/ Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU)] External project pages
* [http://web.pml.ac.uk/amt/ Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) homepage]
* [http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/aui/ Autosub Under Ice (AUI) homepage]
* [http://pcwww.liv.ac.uk/civilCRG/leacoast2/ Liverpool - East Anglia Coastal Study 2 (LEACOAST2) homepage]
* [http://ndg.nerc.ac.uk/ NERC DataGrid (NDG) homepage]
* [http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/rapid/rapid.php RAPID Climate Change homepage]
* [http://www.seadatanet.org/ SEADATANET homepage]
* [http://www.simorc.com/ System of Industry Metocean data for the Offshore and Research Communities (SIMORC) homepage]