Oceanographic data from the WOCE Southern Ocean sections SR3 and S4, collected between Tasmania and Antarctica from December 1994 to February 1995. The dataset includes 107 CTD vertical profile stations and over 2380 Niskin bottle water samples for numerous chemical and biological parameters. It was collected by the Australian Antarctic Division during the AU9404 cruise on the Aurora Australis.
Use Cases
- Analyze water column structure by plotting temperature (C) (ITS-90) and salinity (PSS78) against pressure to identify distinct water masses.
- Investigate biogeochemical relationships by correlating dissolved oxygen (mmol.l-1) with nutrients like phosphate or silicate from bottle samples.
- Study spatial variability of primary productivity proxies by mapping fluorescence and photosynthetically active radiation across station positions.
- Assess data quality and sensor precision by examining the standard deviation of temperature values in the 2 dbar bin for each profile.
- Track water mass movement and mixing using geopotential anomaly and specific volume anomaly x 108 calculations.
Strengths
- 107 CTD vertical profile stations, most extending to near the sea floor.
- Over 2380 discrete water samples analyzed for 15+ chemical and biological parameters.
- Includes quality control flags (bottle quality flag) for salinity measurements.
Limitations
- Data is from a single cruise in 1994-1995, offering only a temporal snapshot.
- Spatial coverage is limited to specific transects in the Southern Ocean between approximately 110 and 162 deg.E.
- Unknown total row count for the compiled tabular dataset.
Provenance
- Source
- Australian Antarctic Division (AU_AADC), collected on the RV Aurora Australis.
- Collection Method
- Ship-based Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) casts and Niskin bottle rosette sampling.
- Time Range
- December 1994 to February 1995.
- Freshness
- null
- Geography
- Southern Ocean along WOCE sections SR3 (Tasmania to Antarctica) and S4 (approx. 110-162 deg.E).