Barometric Pressure and Oceanographic Data from Prince William Sound

May 5 to May 11, 1989, this dataset contains barometric pressure and other oceanographic measurements from 51 stations in Prince William Sound, Gulf of Alaska. It was collected aboard the R/V Alpha Helix by the University of Alaska's Institute of Marine Science for the Exxon Oil Spill Monitoring Program. The data represents a corrected resubmission with field adjustments derived from bottle sample comparisons.

Use Cases

• Analyze barometric pressure trends over the 7-day cruise to study local atmospheric conditions.
• Calibrate CTD sensor readings for temperature and salinity using the provided field correction values derived from bottle samples.
• Map the spatial distribution of oceanographic parameters across the 51 station locations in Prince William Sound.
• Establish a pre-spill environmental baseline for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill monitoring area.
• Study the relationship between station number (2-52) and recorded sensor measurements for spatial analysis.

Strengths

• Data covers 51 distinct sampling stations, providing spatial coverage of Prince William Sound.
• Includes field-corrected values for CTD temperature and salinity based on 15 bottle samples from 16 stations.
• Covers a specific 7-day time period (May 5-11, 1989) for temporal analysis.

Limitations

• Exact row count and column names are unknown, limiting precise assessment of data volume and variables.
• Geographic scope is limited to a single sound over one week, not representative of long-term or broader regional patterns.
• Data is from 1989 and may not reflect current oceanographic conditions.

Provenance

Source

University of Alaska, Institute of Marine Science, submitted to NOAA NCEI.

Collection Method

Collected via shipboard sensors (e.g., CTD) and bottle samples aboard the R/V Alpha Helix on cruise HX123.

Time Range

1989-05-05 to 1989-05-11

Freshness

Data is from 1989; no update frequency is specified.

Geography

Prince William Sound, Gulf of Alaska.