IMOS - Southern Ocean Time Series (SOTS) - Annual Reports: 2012/2013

The Southern Ocean Time Series (SOTS) Observatory is a Sub-Facility of the Australian Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS), funded by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). It is operated under collaborative arrangements by the CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Bureau of Meteorology, and University of Tasmania (via the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre). The primary focus is sustained observing of ocean properties and processes important to climate, carbon cycling, and ocean productivity.

SOTS consists of deep ocean moorings deployed in Subantarctic waters southwest of Tasmania, equipped with autonomous sensors and sample collectors. 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, 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 2012-13 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 2012/2013 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（Australian Integrated Marine Observing System, IMOS）的下属设施，由国家协同研究基础设施战略（National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy, NCRIS）资助。该设施由澳大利亚联邦科学与工业研究组织海洋与大气分部（CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere）、澳大利亚气象局（Bureau of Meteorology）以及塔斯马尼亚大学（通过南极气候与生态系统合作研究中心）以合作模式共同运营。其核心聚焦于对气候、碳循环及海洋生产力至关重要的海洋属性与过程开展长期持续观测。

SOTS由部署于塔斯马尼亚西南亚南极海域的深海锚系组成，锚系搭载自主传感器与样品采集装置。SOTS锚系每年均会进行维护：回收现有锚系并部署新锚系。部分传感器数据可通过卫星近乎实时传回，其余传感器数据与采集的样品则在年度维护航次中回收。

每年会发布三份报告：
报告1：锚系航次概况、作业日期、布设位置、锚系设计与搭载仪器
报告2：锚系与船基采集的样品
报告3：锚系与船基搭载的传感器

上述报告聚焦于元数据，即锚系、传感器、采样器及其部署、回收、处理、分析与归档的相关说明，并提供航次报告辅助信息及数据在线来源的索引。此外还会介绍维护航次期间开展的船基传感器测量与样品采集工作。

报告1：概况——详细阐述锚系的部署与回收流程，提供其布设位置、设计图纸、搭载仪器清单及测量变量，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——介绍三大类样品及其配套的成分测量：
1. 亚南极带（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水体采样器采集的水样，以及搭载于SOFS锚系的TM采样器采集的水样
3. SOTS维护航次期间通过其他设备采集的样品，例如温盐深（CTD）尼斯金采水器、原位泵、连续浮游生物记录仪以及网具采集的样品。
注：并非每年都会采集所有类型的样品。

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、布设配置、数据可用性与质量控制（Quality Control, QC）信息。该信息按每个锚系以表格形式整理。
2. 2012-2013年度所有SOTS锚系的在线传感器数据访问链接。
3. 用于锚系传感器比对的船基传感器记录的说明与访问链接：需注意，报告1.概况已提供标准船基传感器的链接，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2012/2013研究季的相关报告。