Coastal Ocean CTD Profiles from the R.V. Wecoma

This dataset contains high-resolution conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) and salinity-temperature-depth (STD) profiles collected from the R.V. Wecoma in California coastal waters. The data, submitted by Oregon State University for the Coastal Ocean Dynamics Experiments, covers a 16-month period from April 1981 to August 1982. It has been processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center into the standard F022 format, which includes temperature, salinity, density, and other parameters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical profiles of temperature and salinity to study coastal upwelling events.
• Calculating water density (sigma-t) from the provided measurements to understand stratification.
• Correlating hydrographic conditions with meteorological data recorded during the casts.
• Examining temporal changes in the water column over the 16-month experiment duration.

Strengths

• Data provides nearly continuous high-resolution profiles, with measurements potentially reported at depth intervals as fine as 1 meter.
• Includes ancillary environmental data from the time of each cast, such as meteorological and sea surface conditions.
• Processed and standardized by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the F022 format, ensuring a consistent structure.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as exact row count, column names, and file size are unavailable from all sources.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' date: Data.gov reports 2026-03 05, while NASA Earthdata reports the original collection end date of 1982-08-19.

Provenance

Source

Oregon State University, submitted with support from the Coastal Ocean Dynamics Experiments.

Collection Method

Collected using CTD and STD instruments deployed from the R.V. Wecoma.

Time Range

1981-04-20 to 1982-08-19

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:46:22.022097

Geography

Coastal waters of California.