IMOS - Southern Ocean Time Series (SOTS) - Annual Reports: 2019/2020

The Southern Ocean Time Series (SOTS) Observatory is a Sub-facility of Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS), which is enabled by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). IMOS is operated by a consortium of institutions as an unincorporated joint venture, with the University of Tasmania as Lead Agent. The primary focus is sustained observing of ocean properties and processes important to climate, carbon cycling, and ocean productivity.

The SOTS Sub-facility consists of deep ocean moorings deployed in Subantarctic waters southwest of Tasmania, equipped with autonomous sensors and sample collectors. The SOTS moorings are serviced annually - the existing moorings are recovered and new moorings are deployed. Some sensor data is transmitted from the moorings via satellite in near real time. Other sensor data and samples are recovered during the annual service visit.

For each year, three reports are issued:
Report 1. Overview of mooring voyages, dates, locations, designs, instruments
Report 2. Samples from moored and shipboard sample collections
Report 3. Sensors mounted on the moorings moored and shipboard

These reports focus on metadata, i.e. descriptions of the moorings, sensors, samplers, and their deployment, recovery, processing, analysis and curation. Pointers are provided to supporting information from voyage reports and to on-line sources of the data. Shipboard sensor and sample measurements made during the service visits are also described.

Report 1. Overview - describes the deployment and recovery of the moorings. It provides their locations, drawings of their designs, and lists of each instrument deployed and the variables measured. It also summarizes ancillary measurements and sample collections made during the deployment and recovery voyages.

Report 2. Samples - describes 3 main types of samples and associated composition measurements:
1. Sediment trap samples collected by the Subantarctic Zone (SAZ) mooring.
2. Water samples collected by the RAS water sampler deployed on either the Pulse or Southern Ocean Flux Station (SOFS) mooring, and collected by the TM sampler deployed on the SOFS mooring.
3. Samples collected with other devices during the SOTS service voyages, e.g. from CTD Niskin bottles, underway supply, in-situ pumps, continuous plankton recorders, and nets.
Note that not all these sample types were collected in any given year.

Report 3.Sensors provides:
1. Metadata on the sensor types, mounting, set-up, data availability and QC. This information is organized in tables for each mooring.
2. Links to access on-line sensor data from all SOTS moorings in the 2019-20 year.
3. Description of and links to shipboard sensors records used for comparison to the moored sensors - note that Report 1. Overview provides links for standard shipboard sensors, and here we focus on additional sensor efforts with value for SOTS mooring sensor evaluations.

This metadata record represents the reports for the 2019/2020 research season.

南大洋时间序列观测站（Southern Ocean Time Series Observatory, SOTS）是澳大利亚综合海洋观测系统（Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System, IMOS）的下属子设施，该系统由国家合作研究基础设施战略（National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy, NCRIS）提供支持。IMOS由多机构组成的联盟以非法人联合经营体模式运营，塔斯马尼亚大学（University of Tasmania）担任牵头实施机构。该设施的核心目标是对与气候、碳循环及海洋生产力密切相关的海洋属性与过程开展长期持续观测。

SOTS子设施包含部署于塔斯马尼亚西南部亚南极水域的深海锚系观测系统，配套搭载自主传感器与样品采集装置。SOTS锚系每年开展一次维护作业：回收现有锚系并部署新锚系。部分传感器数据可通过卫星实现近实时回传，其余传感器数据与采集的样品则会在年度维护作业中随锚系一并回收带回。

每年度将发布三份报告：
报告1：锚系航次概况，涵盖航次信息、作业日期、布设位置、锚系设计与搭载仪器
报告2：锚系与船载采集的样品
报告3：锚系与船载传感器

这些报告以元数据为核心，即对锚系、传感器、采样器及其部署、回收、处理、分析与归档管理的详细说明。报告中会提供航次报告辅助信息的索引链接，以及数据的在线获取渠道，同时也会记录维护航次期间开展的船载传感器与样品测量工作。

报告1：航次概况——详细阐述锚系的部署与回收作业，提供锚系布设位置、设计图纸、搭载仪器清单及观测变量汇总，同时总结部署与回收航次期间开展的辅助测量与样品采集工作。

报告2：样品——介绍三大类样品及配套的组分测量内容：
1. 亚南极带（Subantarctic Zone, SAZ）锚系采集的沉积物陷阱样品
2. 搭载于Pulse锚系或南大洋通量站（Southern Ocean Flux Station, SOFS）的RAS水质采样器采集的水样，以及搭载于SOFS锚系的TM采样器采集的水样
3. SOTS年度维护航次中通过其他设备采集的样品，例如CTD尼斯金采水瓶、走航补给系统、原位泵、连续浮游生物记录仪及网具采集的样品。
注：并非每个年度都会采集上述全部类型的样品。

报告3：传感器——提供以下内容：
1. 各类传感器的元数据，包括传感器类型、安装方式、配置情况、数据可用性与质量控制（Quality Control, QC）信息，该信息将按每台锚系整理为表格形式
2. 2019-2020年度所有SOTS锚系在线传感器数据的访问链接
3. 用于锚系传感器比对的船载传感器记录的说明与链接——需注意，报告1已提供标准船载传感器的相关链接，本报告重点聚焦可用于SOTS锚系传感器评估的额外传感器数据采集工作。

本元数据记录对应2019/2020研究季的相关报告。