Exploring CTD data

Data on CTD-profile data from LifeWatch sampling campaigns in the Belgian part of the North Sea.

• Partners: Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
• Period: since April 2001
• Geographical coverage: Belgian Exclusive Economic Zone
• Taxonomic coverage: Abiotic data only
• Moratorium: None
• Data quality: Proof-of-concept

How to interpret this dataset

Query options

• Timeframe: Starting and stopping date for the query.
• Stations: Name or code of sampling station or receiver code.
• Bins: Number of measurements in a certain depth bin.

Available columns

• Station: Name or code of sampling station or receiver code.
• CastId: Unique identifier to specify a single CTD-cast.
• Depth: Bottom depth to surface from echosounder 200Hz in m.
• Status: An identifier to specify whether a specific measurement was taken in the up-cast, the down-cast, near the bottom, or during the calibration-phase at the surface.
• Latitude: Center latitude in decimal degrees, WGS84.
• Longitude: Center longitude in decimal degrees, WGS84.
• Time: Time in UTC, beginning of sample timeperiod.
• Obs3+: Turbidity measured by the CTD (expressed in NTU)
• AltM: Altimetry measured by the CTD (expressed in m).
• Par: Photosynthetic Active Radiation.
• FIECO-AFL: Fluorescence measured by the CTD (expressed in mg/m³).
• Oxigenvoltage: Oxygen measured by the CTD (expressed in V).
• Sbeox0Mg/L: Oxygen measured by CTD (expressed in mg/L).
• Sbeox0PS: Oxygen percentage measured by CTD.
• PrdM: Pressure measured by the CTD (expressed in db).
• Temperature: Temperature of air or the water body, expressed in degrees Celcius.
• C0uS/cm: Conducitivity of the water body, expressed in ms/cm.
• Salinity: Salinity of the water body, expressed in PSU.
• Soundspeed: The velocity of sound through the water body, expressed in m/s.
• Density: Calculated densities of zooplankton expressed in specimens/m³, by using the count, fraction, volumeM or volumeC.
• DescSpeed: The speed by which the CTD-carroussel was winched through the water column, expressed in m/s.
• Flag: A quality flag associated with a certain measurement.

Abstract

In the framework of the Lifewatch marine observatory a number of fixed stations on the Belgian Part of the North Sea (BPNS) are visited on a monthly or seasonal basis using the RV Simon Stevin. A grid of nine stations covers the coastal zone and are sampled monthly. Eight additional stations, located further at sea, are sampled on a seasonal basis. This dataset contains CTD-profile data from LifeWatch sampling campaigns in the Belgian part of the North Sea.

How to cite these data

Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Belgium (2020): LifeWatch observatory data: monthly CTD temperature and salinity measurements in the Belgian Part of the North Sea https://doi.org/10.14284/537. Accessed through the LifeWatch Data Explorer / lwdataexplorer R package.

Availability: This dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Please acknowledge as: This work makes use of the LifeWatch observation data and infrastructure (provided by VLIZ) funded by Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) as part of the Belgian contribution to LifeWatch.

These data are also available in the R language with the lwdataxplorer package.