A masters student project conducted by Imogen McClelland. In total 61 macrofaunal benthic NIOZ cores (1m²) were collected and analysed from the Celtic Sea. This formed the Spatial Project whch was collected in addition and alongside samples taken as part of the Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry (SSB) project during the SSB cruise DY021 in March 2015. Working on transects across the sampling zone each area was characterised using environmental and sediment conditions in addition to the benthic faunal abundances and wet biomass. This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [grant numbers NE/K00204X/1, Shelf Seas Biogeochemistry Research Programme and NE/L003279/1, Marine Ecosystems Research Programme]. The Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry (SSB) research programme took a holistic approach to the cycling of nutrients and carbon and the controls on primary and secondary production in UK and European shelf seas, to increase understanding of these processes and their role in wider biogeochemical cycles. The Marine Ecosystems Research Programme (MERP) set out to integrate existing marine data and target new data with current models and knowledge of marine ecosystem services, in order to improve understanding of the whole UK marine ecosystem. The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) created the metadata entry and is responsible for holding master copies of the data.

This data set contains sediment characterisation data collected from NIOZ cores in the Celtic Sea across four surveys (DY008, DY021, DY030, DY034) on-board the RRS Discovery (2014-2015). The data were collected at four sampling sites (A, G, H, I) and over a spatial survey carried out on DY021. The author does not have any concerns over the quality of the data set and values are consistent with similar data reported in the wider literature. Samples for sediment characterisation were collected using the NIOZ box corer with 300mm diameter cylindrical barrel. Clear plastic tubes were then inserted into the sediment to collect undisturbed sediment cores for Particle size analysis (PSA)/Organic carbon and Nitrogen (OCN) and syringes with the barrel end cut off were used to collect cores for Rapid fines assessment (RFA) and Porosity/Chlorophyll. All samples were then sliced to known depths. PSA was carried out following the NMBAQC method using a combination of sieve and laser diffraction (Mason 2011). OCN was determined from freeze dried sediment, which was ground and analysed using the Carlo Erba EA1108 Elemental analyser (Kirsten, 1979). RFA was completed through image analysis in Adobe Photoshop CS5 using a novel method (Silburn et. al In Prep). Sediment Chlorophyll samples were freeze dried and a known weight (~0.5g) of dried sediment was extracted in 90% acetone using a modified method of that described by Tett et al (1987). The extracted pigment was then measured using either spectrophotometry (DY008) (HMSO 1980) or fluorescence (DY021, DY030, and DY034) (Tett et al 1987). Porosity samples were weighed, freeze dried and weighed again to get the dry:wet sediment weight ratio (Danielson and Sutherland 1986). Permeability was then calculated from porosity (Engelund 1953). The data were collected as part of the Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry (SSB) research programme as part of the Biogeochemistry, Macronutrient and Carbon Cycling in the benthic layer (BMCC) research programme. SSB was co-funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The programme took a holistic approach to the cycling of nutrients and carbon and the controls on primary and secondary production in UK and European shelf seas, to increase understanding of these processes and their role in wider biogeochemical cycles. Sample collection in the field carried out by Briony Silburn, Dave Sivyer, Claire Mason, Paul Nelson, Stefan Bolan (Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science) and Charlie Thompson (Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton). The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) created the metadata entry and is responsible for holding master copies of the data.

This data set contains oxygen and pH profiles collected from NIOZ cores in the Celtic Sea across four surveys (DY008, DY021, DY030, DY034) on-board the RRS Discovery (2014-2015). The data were collected at four sampling sites (A, G, H, I) and over a spatial survey carried out on DY021. Samples were collected from the Celtic Sea across the four NERC Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry surveys (DY008, DY021, DY030, DY034) on-board the RRS Discovery (2014-2015). The author does not have any concerns over the quality of the data set and values are consistent with similar data reported in the wider literature. Samples for sediment characterisation were collected using the NIOZ box corer with 300mm diameter cylindrical barrel. Clear plastic tubes were then inserted into the sediment to collect undisturbed sediment cores with overlying water for profiling. Oxygen and pH profiles were acquired in the same core using a dual mounted motorised micromanipulator profiling head, with a Unisense pH-500 microelectrode (Kuhl and Revsbech 2001 - Revsbech and Jorgensen 1986) and an OX-500 microsensor (Revsbech 1989). The Sensor Trace Pro software (version 3.0.6) automatically drove the motorised profiling head down at 1mm intervals, resting 15 seconds at each depth interval before measuring for 3 seconds, to a maximum depth of 6cm. All probes were calibrated daily and pH profiles were offset for seawater using a pH TRIS buffer (Nemzer and Dickson 20054). The data were collected as part of the Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry (SSB) research programme as part of the Biogeochemistry, Macronutrient and Carbon Cycling in the benthic layer (BMCC) research programme. SSB was co-funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The programme took a holistic approach to the cycling of nutrients and carbon and the controls on primary and secondary production in UK and European shelf seas, to increase understanding of these processes and their role in wider biogeochemical cycles. Sample collection in the field carried out by Briony Silburn, Dave Sivyer and Stefan Bolan (Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science). The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) created the metadata entry and is responsible for holding master copies of the data.

This dataset contains profiles of inorganic nutrients in pore waters of sediments. Samples were collected from the Celtic Sea across the four NERC Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry surveys (DY008, DY021, DY030, DY034) on-board the RRS Discovery (2014-2015). The author does not have any concerns over the quality of the data set and values are consistent with similar data reported in the wider literature. All sediment was collected using the NIOZ box corer and all pore waters extracted on-deck. Water samples were then refrigerated and analysed on-board. Samples for pore water extraction were collected using the NIOZ box corer with 300mm diameter cylindrical barrel. Pore water was collected directly from a NIOZ core using sipper probes. The probes were inserted into the core to known depths and around 10ml of water was extracted using a vacuum motor. Samples range from 0-20cm, providing a profile through the sediment. Once extracted, the water was syringe filtered (0.2um) and analysed for inorganic nutrients (nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, silicate and ammonium) using a 5 channel Bran and Luebbe AAIII segmented flow, colorimetric, autoanalyser. The analytical chemical methodologies used were according to Brewer and Riley (1965) for nitrate, Grasshoff (1976) for nitrite, Kirkwood (1989) for phosphate and silicate, and Mantoura and Woodward (1983) for ammonium. The data were collected as part of the Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry (SSB) research programme as part of the Biogeochemistry, Macronutrient and Carbon Cycling in the benthic layer (BMCC) research programme. SSB was co-funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The programme took a holistic approach to the cycling of nutrients and carbon and the controls on primary and secondary production in UK and European shelf seas, to increase understanding of these processes and their role in wider biogeochemical cycles. The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) created the metadata entry and is responsible for holding master copies of the data.