British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) Website

This series contains dated gathered versions (or 'snapshots') of the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) website. [Please note: These records may be accessed via the UK Government Web Archive].

Please see information at Divisional level.

Topics

Official publications

The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) is a national facility for looking after and distributing data concerning the marine environment.

The origins of BODC go back to 1969 when the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) created the British Oceanographic Data Service (BODS). In 1975 BODS was transferred to Bidston Observatory on the Wirral, as part of the newly formed Institute of Oceanographic Sciences. In 1976 BODS became the focus of a high level review of offshore industry requirements. As a result, BODS became the data banking section of the Marine Information and Advisory Service (MIAS). The section was funded for four years by the Department of Energy and Industry. Its primary activity was to manage the data collected from the UK Offshore Operators Association (UKOOA) network of weather ships, oil rigs and large-scale data buoys. Until the late 1980s, the MIAS Data Banking Section (MDBS) continued to manage data for UKOOA and to assemble archives of wave, moored current meter, offshore tide gauge and CTD data. In April 1989 MDBS was restructured to form BODC.