Atmospheric Chemistry Studies in the Oceanic Environment
[ Introduction ]
[ Data: Status - Format - Availability - Access ]
[ Documentation ]
[ Links and references ]
[ Citation ]
[ Contacts ]
The Atmospheric Chemistry Studies in the Oceanic Environment
(ACSOE)
programme was a 5-year
NERC
Community Research programme to investigate the physico-chemical processes
occurring in the layer of atmosphere immediately above the oceans.
It was developed from 1996 to 2000.
The programme comprised a wide range of species and aerosol measurements
coupled with integrated modelling studies.
Measurements were made from April 1996 to December 1998
- at remote field sites (Mace Head, Ireland; Weybourne, Norfolk; Tenerife);
- from the NERC research vessels Challenger and Discovery;
- using the Meteorological Research Flight C-130 aircraft and the Cranfield
Jetstream aircraft.
The aims of the programme are to understand firstly the processes
occurring in the remote marine atmosphere
and secondly to discover how these are modified by anthropogenic emissions.
The ACSOE study area extends from the cold water regions south of Iceland,
through the temperate eastern Atlantic and North Sea,
to the Canary Islands in the sub-tropical Atlantic.
The principal Investigator of ACSOE was Prof Stuart Penkett of University of
East Anglia.
The project had three consortia of UK institutes and universities, each of which
focused on a different scientific topic:
- OXICOA (OXIdising Capacity of the Ocean Atmosphere)
- a study of oxidant, radical and related gas-phase chemistry
in the clean and moderately polluted marine atmosphere.
- MAGE (Marine Aerosol and Gas Exchange)
- a study of aspects of air-sea exchange relevant to atmospheric
chemistry and aerosol production.
- (ACE) Aerosol Characterisation Experiment
- a study of the processing of gases and aerosols through hill-cap
clouds on Tenerife and sub-tropical marine stratocumulus.
As well as the ACSOE data files, BADC has supplied plots of air-parcel back
trajectories spanning five days for
the ACSOE programme. These trajectories were computed
by CGAM (Centre for Global Atmospheric Modelling) at Reading
using analyses from the ECMWF
(European Center for Medium range Weather Forecasting).
Trajectories were calculated for arrival pressures of
1000, 950, 850 and 700 mb using both actual
and forecast fields.
Example plots for the remote observing sites at
Mace Head in Southern Ireland and the Weybourne atmospheric observatory
in Norfolk illustrate the formats available.
Atmospheric data collected during the programme are held at the BADC.
Oceanographic data from
ACSOE cruises are stored at the BODC.
Data: Status - Format - Availability - Access
Data status
ACSOE data are public.
However,
- Users are strongly advised to contact the relevant data provider before
making use of any particular data set.
- Users commit themselves to use the data for scientific purposes exclusively.
In particular, they will not use them for any commercial or commercially
related purpose.
- When using ACSOE data to support your study, you are kindly asked to
acknowledge their provider(s) in any subsequent publication.
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The data provider's name can be found on line 2 of each data file.
An electronic contact is also given in the data file header.
If the provided address appears out of date, please refer to the
List of Data Providers, that includes links to
ACSOE participants' addresses.
In case a data provider could not be reached, please contact
Dr Claire E. Reeves.
N.B.
After a restricted access phase intended to protect the rights of ACSOE
scientists, data have been progressively released to the public
domain from January 2000 to July 2001, following a
time chart specified
in the ACSOE Implementation Plan.
During the restricted access phase, data were only
available to users subject to the terms and conditions
of the ACSOE Data Protocol
which aimed at encouraging rapid dissemination of scientific results
while simultaneously protecting the rights of individual scientists.
Data file format
All files in the primary ACSOE data archive are written using
NASA-Ames data format. This format
simplifies exchange of data between different computers.
All files are written as ASCII and consist of a single header
followed by one or several tables.
Availability of data
-
You may search the
BADC ACSOE file catalogue (in a new window) to find the availability of data corresponding to a specific range of dates.
The resulting listings allow you to examine
the NASA-Ames file headers and to gain further insight into the
data that the files contain.
You can also refine the basic search, for example to restrict your search
to list only ozone measurements obtained by a specific technique.
-
The BODC
ACSOE dataset inventory lists the ACSOE oceanographic data held at the BODC.
Access to the archive
If you need help in downloading the data via the Web or by anonymous
FTP, please refer to our Help Desk.
Documentation
- The aims and objectives of the ACSOE programme are defined in the
Atmospheric Chemistry Studies in the Oceanic Environment (ACSOE)
Science Plan, issued December 1994.
- The BADC ACSOE
documentation directory contains a mixture of PostScript and plain-text
documents on file naming and formatting, trajectory data etc.
- Information on NASA-Ames format: primarily
intended for ACSOE data providers intending to submit data
to the BADC, this may also provide a useful introduction for potential users
of the data.
A newer and more complete documentation on NASA-Ames format is available
from the BADC's Formats page.
- The ACSOE
final report is available in the BADC ACSOE documentation directory.
Links and references
-
Further details of the ACSOE programme are available from the
ACSOE www pages
at UEA.
-
Routine 5-day back trajectories
calculated from ECMWF dynamical data
were also made available for an arrival pressure of 900 mb
based on three regular latitude / longitude grids centred over
the UK., the mid-Atlantic storm track region and the eastern U.S.A.
Both ACSOE-specific and routine trajectories are archived at BADC.
-
If you are a registered BADC user with access to data distributed by
the Met Office, the
BADC Trajectory Web Service
also allows you to run and plot your own trajectories.
-
The
ACSOE Web page at BODC
is the gateway to the oceanographic data from ACSOE cruises, stored at BODC.
-
A list of
references is also available.
Citation
Natural Environment Research Council, [Allan, B.; Allen, A.; Bandy, B.; Bassford, M.; Bauguitte, S.; Beswick, K.; Bradbury, C.; Brassington, D.; Broadgate, W.; Burgess, R.; Cape, J.N.; Cardenas, L.; Carpenter, L.; Carrick, A.; Choularton, T.W.; Coe, H.; Consterdine, I.E.;Creasey,D.J.; Davison, B.; Edwards, G.D.; Evans, M.; Gerbig, C.; Green, T.; Grenfell, L.; Heard, D.E.; James, J.; Jickells, T.; Law, K.; Lee, J.D.; Lewis, A.C.; Lightman, P.; Liss, P.S.; McArdle, N.; McFadyen, G.; McIntyre H.; McQuaid, J.B.; Mills, G.; Monks, P.S.; Nickless, G.; O'Doherty, S.; Oram, D.; Pilling, M.J.; Plane, J.; Pyle, J.; Reeves, C.; Richer, H.; Robertson, L.; Salisbury, G.; Schmitgen, S.; Shallcross, D.; Simmonds, P.;Smith, M.H.; Spain, G.; Spokes, L.; Sturges, W.; Thompson, A.;Tiddeman, D.; Vaughan, G.; Wild, O.; Wilson, K.; Yeatman, S.; Yoshiteru, I.; Zanis, P.] . Atmospheric Chemistry Studies in the Oceanic Environment (ACSOE/ACE) Hillcloud-1 and Hillcloud-2, [Internet]. British Atmospheric Data Centre, 2007, Date of citation. Available from http://badc.nerc.ac.uk/data/acsoe/.
Who to contact
- If you have queries about these pages or difficulties accessing ACSOE
data at the BADC, you should contact the
BADC Support.
- Before using a specific data set, you should contact its provider (see
Data status above).
- The principal scientific contacts for the ACSOE programme are:
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