IMOS - Southern Ocean Time Series (SOTS) - Annual Reports: 2018/2019

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 2018-19 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 2018/2019 research season.

南大洋时间序列（Southern Ocean Time Series, SOTS）观测站是澳大利亚综合海洋观测系统（Integrated Marine Observing System, IMOS）的子设施，其由国家协同研究基础设施战略（National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy, NCRIS）资助建成并投入运行。IMOS由多所高校与科研机构组成的联盟以非法人联合联营体的形式运营，塔斯马尼亚大学（University of Tasmania）担任牵头执行方。该设施的核心目标是对气候、碳循环及海洋生产力相关的关键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亚南极水域的深海锚系观测站，搭载自主传感器与样品采集装置。SOTS锚系观测站每年都会接受维护作业：回收现有锚系并部署新的锚系观测站。部分传感器数据可通过卫星以近乎实时的速率传回陆地，其余传感器数据与采集的样品则在年度维护航次中回收获取。

每年将发布三份专项报告：
报告1：锚定航次概况、作业日期、布设位置、系统设计与搭载仪器
报告2：锚系与船载采集的样品
报告3：锚系与船载搭载的传感器

上述报告以元数据（metadata）为核心，即对锚系观测站、传感器、采样器及其部署、回收、处理、分析与归档管理流程的详细说明。报告中会提供航次报告辅助资料的索引，以及数据在线获取渠道的链接。同时也会对年度维护航次中开展的船载传感器与样品测量工作进行详细说明。

报告1：概况——详述锚系观测站的部署与回收流程，提供其布设位置、系统设计图纸，列出每台搭载仪器及所测环境变量，并汇总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. 亚南极区（Subantarctic Zone, SAZ）锚系采集的沉积物捕集器样品；
2. 搭载于Pulse锚系或南大洋通量站（Southern Ocean Flux Station, SOFS）锚系的RAS水样采集器，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，例如温盐深（Conductivity-Temperature-Depth, CTD）尼斯金采水器、走航补给装置、原位泵、连续浮游生物记录仪以及各类网具采集的样品。
需注意，并非每年都会采集所有上述类型的样品。

报告3：传感器——涵盖以下内容：
1. 各类传感器的元数据，包括传感器类型、安装方式、设置参数、数据可用性与质量控制（Quality Control, QC）情况。该信息将按每个锚系观测站以表格形式整理呈现。
2. 2018-2019年度所有SOTS锚系观测站在线传感器数据的访问链接。
3. 用于与锚系传感器开展比对的船载传感器记录的说明与访问链接——需说明，报告1：概况已提供标准船载传感器的链接，本报告重点聚焦可用于SOTS锚系传感器评估的额外传感器相关工作。

本元数据记录对应2018/2019研究季的相关报告。