Coastal Ocean Currents And Meteorological Data From Northern California Shelf
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Description
A multi-institutional experiment collected currents, hydrographic, sea level, and meteorological data north of San Francisco Bay from April 1981 to August 1982. The Coastal Ocean Dynamics Experiment (CODE) was funded by the NSF and executed by agencies including NCAR, NOAA, USGS, WHOI, SIO, OSU, and UNH. Data includes moored and drifting current meters, temperature chains, pressure/temperature sensors, and meteorological station readings.
Use Cases
Analyze wind-driven coastal currents using moored current meter data and meteorological station wind observations.
Study temperature variability over the continental shelf using temperature chain and bottom pressure/temperature sensor records.
Model sea level response to wind forcing by correlating sea-level observations from /NOS with local meteorological data.
Investigate heat balances in coastal waters using time-series data from temperature sensors and air/sea temperature measurements.
Strengths
Data collection spanned 17 months from April 1981 to August 1982, covering seasonal variations.
Experiment was designed for high-quality kinematic and dynamic descriptions, involving multiple reputable agencies.
Includes multiple complementary data types: currents, temperature, pressure, sea level, and meteorology.
Limitations
Data is from a single geographic region (Pt. Reyes to Pt. Arena), limiting generalizability.
Temporal coverage is limited to the early 1980s, which may not reflect current oceanographic conditions.
Specific row counts, sample sizes, and data completeness metrics are unknown.
Provenance
Source
Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, via the 'Data Zoo'.
Collection Method
Field experiments (CODE-1 and CODE-2) using moored and drifting instruments, temperature chains, pressure sensors, and meteorological stations.
Time Range
April 1981 to August 1982
Freshness
Data collection ended in August 1982; it is a historical snapshot.
Geography
Continental shelf north of San Francisco Bay, from Pt. Reyes to Pt. Arena, California, USA.
Users are asked to cite the source and notify the CCS 'zookeeper' for research use. Some data (e.g., XBT) is noted as not archived in the Data Zoo. Specific file formats and data access instructions within the Data Zoo structure are not detailed.