Bering Sea Oceanographic Profiles from 1980s Research Cruises

Oceanographic profile data was collected from 568 stations across the Bering Sea and Boca de Quadra area during multiple research cruises between December 1982 and July 1984. The dataset contains high-resolution conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) and salinity-temperature-depth (STD) measurements processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard F022 format. Data collection was led by researchers from the University of Alaska and the University of California, Irvine.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical profiles of temperature and salinity to study water mass distribution and ocean circulation patterns.
• Calculating derived parameters like density (sigma-t) for stability and mixing analyses in coastal and shelf seas.
• Correlating oceanographic conditions from specific stations (e.g., station metadata includes position, date, time) with biological or meteorological observations.
• Examining dissolved oxygen or light transmissivity data, where available, for insights into biogeochemical processes.

Strengths

• Contains data from 568 distinct sampling stations (120 in Bering Sea, 448 in Boca de Quadra), providing broad spatial coverage.
• High-resolution profiles with measurements potentially reported at depth intervals as fine as 1 meter.
• Processed to a recognized standard (NODC F022 format), ensuring consistency and interoperability.

Limitations

• Conflicting end dates: one source states data collection ended March 1984, while another lists July 1984.
• Specific column names, row counts, and file sizes are unknown across all platforms.
• License information is not provided, which may restrict certain uses.

Provenance

Source

University of Alaska, with data collected by Dr. George Hunt (UC Irvine) and Dr. Burrell (Institute of Marine Science).

Collection Method

Collected using CTD and STD instruments aboard R/V Alpha Helix, R/V Amak, and R/V Redoubt research vessels.

Time Range

1982-12-01 to 1984-07-12

Freshness

Most recent metadata update was 2026-04-01 on Data.gov, though the underlying data is from the 1980s.

Geography

Bering Sea and Boca de Quadra area (Alaska coastal waters).