Abstract:
The Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) is a multidisciplinary programme which undertakes biological, chemical and physical oceanographic research during an annual voyage between the UK and destinations in the South Atlantic - previously the Falkland Islands, South Africa and Chile, a distance of up to 13,500km. This ocean transect crosses a range of ecosystems from sub-polar to tropical and from ... euphotic shelf seas and upwelling systems to oligotrophic mid-ocean gyres. AMT has provided an in-situ observation system for the Atlantic Ocean between ~50°N and ~50°S since 1995, and to-date this has involved 223 scientists from 18 different countries. Data that has been gathered during this project informs on trends and variability in biodiversity and function of the Atlantic ecosystem during this period of rapid change to our climate and biosphere. AMT is unique in its ability to acquire data on long NS transects of the Atlantic and to make observations on basin scales. It represents the longest running programme based in the Atlantic Ocean that makes repeat measurements of core parameters and provides a platform for excellent multi-disciplinary oceanographic research. The main deliverable of AMT is an exceptional time series (1995-present) of spatially extensive and internally consistent observations on the structure and biogeochemical properties of planktonic ecosystems in the Atlantic Ocean that are required to validate models addressing questions related to the global carbon cycle. A full list of AMT publications, which currently includes 220 published articles including two special issues of Deep-Sea Research II and one of Progress in Oceanography, can be found at: http://www.amt-uk.org/publications.aspx. This unique spatially extensive decadal dataset continues to be deposited and made available to the wider community through the British Oceanographic Data Centre (http://www.bodc.ac.uk/projects/uk/amt/). The programme is hosted by Plymouth Marine Laboratory (http://www.pml.ac.uk/) in collaboration with the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (http://noc.ac.uk/) and provides an exceptional opportunity for nationally and internationally driven collaborative endeavours. An integral part of the AMT, which has resulted in more than 60 completed PhD theses, is to provide a training arena for the next generation of oceanographers. This aim has been enhanced recently through the development of the POGO-AMT fellowship programme (http://ocean-partners.org/) which supports the participation of students or early career professionals from developing nations. Participants in this fellowship programme benefit from working alongside experienced researchers in the development of research skills, the formation of collaborative links and capacity building for their home institutes and countries.
Access Constraints
It is NERC policy to ensure that "individual scientists, principal investigator teams and participants in programmes will be permitted a reasonable period to work exclusively on, and publish the results of, the data collected by such individuals and teams". Nevertheless, as the AMT programme develops, there is necessarily a sequential widening of access to data and samples. This process has ... already been outlined with respect to data under 7 above.
It can be generalised with reference to three access levels •Level 1 (AMT Project) Availability limited to the investigators responsible for data/sample collection any wider sharing at the discretion of the investigators. •Level 2 (AMT Programme) When data are transferred to BODC, their availability is automatically extended to other investigators within the AMT programme. Nevertheless, their further use is still under the control of the data originator, and any wider sharing is at the discretion of the AMT Steering Committee. •Level 3 (Public) Data publication (depending on parameter ranging from real time to at or near the end of the programme). Availability extended to external users, either openly (for academic use) or at the discretion of BODC/NERC (for commercial exploitation, in consultation with data-originators). Post-programme availability of biological material to be controlled by the body responsible for its archiving, on the basis that 'ground-rules' will then have been established by the Steering Committee, and that sample-originators will be consulted wherever practicable.
