Caribbean Sea Marine Environment Measurements from 2015 Cruise

December 2015 data from a research cruise aboard the vessel L'Atalante in the Caribbean Sea. The dataset contains measurements of water temperature, salinity, pH, dissolved inorganic carbon, alkalinity, and biological samples of coccolithophores and planktonic foraminifera. It was collected as part of the U.S. State Department MSR U2015-028 mission.

Use Cases

• Analyze the correlation between pH and alkalinity measurements to study ocean acidification in the Caribbean Sea.
• Model the distribution of coccolithophores and planktonic foraminifera in relation to temperature and salinity gradients.
• Calculate carbonate system parameters using dissolved inorganic carbon and alkalinity data for carbon cycle studies.

Strengths

• Data collected during a dedicated 12-day research cruise in December 2015, providing a focused temporal snapshot.
• Includes a multidisciplinary set of measurements, combining physical (temperature, salinity), chemical (pH, DIC, alkalinity), and biological (coccolithophores, foraminifera) variables.
• Originates from a U.S. State Department mission (MSR U2015-028) and is managed by NOAA, indicating official provenance.

Limitations

• The primary data is contained within a PDF report, which requires extraction and parsing for quantitative analysis.
• The dataset represents a single cruise over 12 days, limiting temporal and spatial coverage for long-term or regional studies.
• Specific columnar data structure, row counts, and file formats are unknown, complicating immediate machine-readability.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Measurements taken from the research vessel L'Atalante during a multidisciplinary cruise investigation.

Time Range

2015-12-15 to 2015-12-26

Freshness

The record was last updated in March 2026, but the underlying data collection occurred in December 2015.

Geography

Caribbean Sea