purpose: This map shows the total organic carbon content (TOC) of surface sediments in the North Sea. It was produced by interpolation of legacy data from more than 3000 samples collected between 1960 and 2014. The distribution of this map allows the user to visualize an important marine habitat characteristic and to exploit the dataset for ecological and biogeochemical modelling. abstract: Weight percent total organic carbon (TOC) is one of the most commonly used descriptors for marine sediments. It is used to judge primary productivity of the overlying water column and refers to the amount of organic matter preserved within sediment. TOC has a major influence on biogeochemical processes occurring in sediments, including the regulation of the behavior of the other chemical species such as metals and organic pollutants. Therefore, determination of TOC is an essential component of environmental characterization analysis.This map conveys information on the weight percent TOC of seabed sediments in the North Sea. It has been produced with multivariate geostatistics (external drift kriging) using the percentage mud content as a trend variable. The underlying data set is a compilation of over 3,000 sediment samples from many national and European surveys conducted between 1960 and 2014. Due to the vintage of some samples in the database, users are advised to consider the dynamic nature of the seafloor when using the data and when creating derived surrogate based habitat maps. Also, due to the diversity of sources for the point data, users should be aware of the differing methods by which the TOC analyses were conducted. As a consequence, map confidence is not necessarily uniform and thus areas not always comparable, even though the interpolation surface may look continuous.
observational data
: Level 3c data (products) usually take the form of a homogenous regularity gridded field and will be reserved for specialist, one-...
Description
observational data
: Level 3c data (products) usually take the form of a homogenous regularity gridded field and will be reserved for specialist, one-off products https://www.godae.org/Data-definition.html instruments: In Situ/Laboratory Instruments>>Samplers
platforms: In Situ Ocean-based Platforms>>SHIPS
Accuracy is described in Bockelmann (2018) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2017.11.003
FAIR
F-UJI result: total 66 %
Description
Summary: Findable: 6 of 7 level; Accessible: 2 of 3 level; Interoperable: 3 of 4 level; Reusable: 5 of 10 level
SQA - Scientific Quality Assurance 'approved by author'
Result Date
2017-12-12
Technical Quality Assurance (TQA)
TQA - Technical Quality Assurance 'approved by WDCC'
Description
1. Number of data sets is correct and > 0: passed; 2. Size of every data set is > 0: passed; 3. The data sets and corresponding metadata are accessible: passed; 4. The data sizes are controlled and correct: passed; 5. The temporal coverage description (metadata) is consistent to the data: passed; 6. The format is correct: passed; 7. Variable description and data are consistent: passed
Method
WDCC-TQA checklist
Method Description
Checks performed by WDCC. The list of TQA metrics are documented in the 'WDCC User Guide for Data Publication' Chapter 8.1.1