High-Resolution CTD/STD Profiles from Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska

Four months of high-resolution CTD/STD data were collected aboard the RV Alpha Helix in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska from August to December 1980. The dataset, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center to the F022 standard format, provides nearly continuous vertical profiles of oceanographic parameters. It is maintained by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical structure of water temperature and salinity for oceanographic modeling.
• Studying density (sigma-t) profiles to understand water mass distribution and stratification.
• Investigating spatial and temporal variability of dissolved oxygen or water clarity (transmissivity) if those parameters are recorded.
• Correlating station-specific environmental data (e.g., meteorological conditions) with subsurface oceanographic measurements.

Strengths

• Data is in a standardized, well-documented format (NODC F022), ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides high-resolution profiles with sampling intervals as fine as 1 meter.
• Covers a specific four-month cruise across two major North Pacific ocean regions.

Limitations

• Exact row count, column names, and file size are not provided by any source.
• The presence of specific parameters like dissolved oxygen or transmissivity is noted as 'possibly' included, indicating potential inconsistency.
• One platform lists a last updated date of 2026-04-01, which is a future date and conflicts with the 1980 data collection period.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), collected via RV Alpha Helix.

Collection Method

Electronic CTD/STD instrument casts, processed to NODC standard High-Resolution CTD/STD (F022) format.

Time Range

1980-08-12 to 1980-12-11

Freshness

Metadata was last updated on 2026-04-01 according to one source, though this date is anomalous for a 1980 dataset.

Geography

Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska