Seawater temperature records for the UK Shelf - 14 - Intensive plankton surveys off the north-east coast of England in 1976

notPlanned

The grid of stations was based on the ICES statistical rectangles over the area from north Norfolk to 56̊ N and to longitude 2 ̊ E. Sampling points were 18 nautical miles apart longitudinally and along latitude lines 15 nautical miles apart. In the centre of this grid (to the north of the River Humber and to the south of the River Tyne) intermediate sampling points 9 nautical miles apart were designated; this central part constituted the main priority plankton sampling grid. Sampling was carried out along the survey on twelve cruises between the end of January and the beginning of November; each survey lasted approximately twelve days. Seven cruises were planned for the first four months to sample cod and plaice spawning, while the remainder, at approximately monthly intervals, were to sample summer– and autumn–spawning fish. All surveys were carried out on board the RV Corella, except the final survey which was carried out on board the RV Clione. The temperature sensor in the Perspex box was calibrated at regular interval during each survey against known standards. Calibration of the thermistor used for measuring temperature at the “bottom” was carried out against a secondary standard thermometer; the chart records were corrected accordingly to the calibration. Temperature data extracted from cruise datasets as part of Cefas Seedcorn Project DP302 which looked at historical light and chlorophyll measurements; some chlorophyll measurements were recorded during the series of cruises carried out off the north-east coast of England in 1976 on board the vessel Corella. Records of these cruises were only on paper and during DP302 they were digitised. Measurements of temperature at the surface and bottom were recorded together with the various details of each sampling stations. The multiple sources are described in 17 separate metadata entries under the same Title, e.g. Seawater temperature records for the UK Shelf - 15 - RV Cefas Endeavour FerryBox Monitoring System. These data have been described in detail via the following publication. Morris, D. J., Pinnegar, J. K., Maxwell, D. L., Dye, S. R., Fernand, L. J., Flatman, S., Williams, O. J., and Rogers, S. I.: Over 10 million seawater temperature records for the United Kingdom Continental Shelf between 1880 and 2014 from 17 Cefas (United Kingdom government) marine data systems, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 27–51, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-27-2018, 2018.