The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) is the UK’s largest institution for ocean research and environmental technology development, and is funded by the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC; note from 1 April 2018 the NOC transferred to the over-arching organisation UKRI - UK Research and Innovation). The NOC provides the bulk of the UK’s capability for the country’s marine research community. This includes provision of major facilities (such as the Royal Research Ships and the deep submergence autonomous and robotic vehicles), and programmes of sustained observing, survey, mapping, data management and other functions. NOC undertakes multi-disciplinary studies of ocean processes, mapping seafloor and sub-seafloor environments for the understanding and management of natural resources and geo-hazards. Furthermore, the scientific teams study processes controlling the global biogeochemical cycles that affect climate and ecosystems, and investigate the distribution and drivers behind biological patterns in the oceans (distributions of biomass, diversity etc.).