Gulf of Mexico Current Meter and Benthic Survey Data from Brine Disposal Project

From August 1979 to January 1981, this dataset contains oceanographic and biological measurements from moored current meter casts in the Gulf of Mexico. It includes time series of current direction, speed, temperature, and salinity, along with benthic organism survey data on species abundance and biomass. The data were submitted by Texas A&M University and processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center.

Use Cases

• Analyze temporal patterns in current_direction and current_speed at 10-15 minute intervals to model Gulf of Mexico circulation.
• Correlate benthic organism abundance and biomass data with site-specific salinity and temperature measurements to assess habitat suitability.
• Use station position, water_depth, and sensor_depth fields to map the spatial distribution of physical and biological observations.
• Investigate relationships between reported sediment_characteristics and species_distribution data from grab or trawl samples.
• Model dominant_wave direction, height, and period against concurrent wind_direction and speed measurements for coastal dynamics studies.

Strengths

• Time series data reported at high-frequency 10-15 minute intervals.
• Combines physical oceanography (F005 format) and biological survey (F132 format) data for multi-disciplinary analysis.
• Includes detailed metadata per station: position, water_depth, sensor_depth, equipment, and methods.

Limitations

• Data is temporally stale, collected over 40 years ago (1979-1981), limiting relevance to current conditions.
• Sample size and geographic coverage are unknown, potentially representing a limited number of mooring points.
• Data values may have been subject to averaging or filtering, obscuring raw measurements.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), accession 8100502.

Collection Method

Collected via moored current meter casts and benthic sampling (grab, core, trawl, net). Processed to NODC standard formats F005 and F132.

Time Range

1979-08-18 to 1981-01-21

Freshness

null

Geography

Gulf of Mexico