Report of the SNOMS Project 2006 to 2012, SNOMS SWIRE NOCS Ocean Monitoring System. Part 2: Detailed technical and data annexes

Abstract

The SNOMS Project (SWIRE NOCS Ocean Monitoring System) is a ground breaking joint research project supported by the Swire Group Trust, the Swire Educational Trust, the China Navigation Company (CNCo) and the Natural Environment Research Council. The project was designed to gather high quality data on concentrations of carbon dioxide in the surface layer of the ocean. It contributes to the international effort to better quantify (and understand the driving processes controlling) the exchanges of CO2 between the ocean and the atmosphere. In 2006 and 2007 a system that could be used on a commercial ship to provide data over periods of several months with only limited maintenance by the ships crew was designed and built by the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton (NOCS). The system was fitted to the CNCo ship the MV Pacific Celebes in May 2007. This part of the report contains the annexes that document in detail the system design and implementation and fitting-out on board the Celebes. They detail the tasks carried out by the crew and NOC scientists and their colleagues on shore both in terms of scientific and outreach activities. They also contain plots of raw and processed data. The first annex provides maps of the routes taken by the ship. These begin and end at the ports were the ships was visited for servicing the system. Annex 2 contains copies of the proposals written by NOC to the Swire Group Trust and Swire Educational Trust and of the resulting contracts. The third annex compiles into one place the technical reports written describing the design and operation of the system and a report that describes the system that was developed to manage the large quantities data produced by the system, taking it from the raw data collected by the ship to data that had been quality controlled. Annex 4 provides graphical presentation of the data. The first section provides plots of the calibrated data on concentrations CO2 across the Pacific and compares data from the sensors and the water samples that were collected by the ships crew. Section two shows plots of the raw data from the sensors, it is important that these plots are accessible as they provide ready access to future users of the SNOMS or similar systems for them to make comparisons to the performance of their systems to that achieved by the SNOMS system. Section three provides the salinity calibration plots. As basic oceanographic data it is important that the performance of the sensors used to acquire the salinity data are traceable. Annex 5 provides listings of the various outreach activities related to the work of the SNOMS project covering scientific papers and presentations, copies of some of the presentations and information on approaches to other shipping companies and foundations for increased support. The final annex is simple table recording the periods of use of the 34 individual sensors used on the Pacific Celebes between 2007 and 2012.

More information

Identifiers

Catalogue record

Export record