Endicott Program: Arctic Environmental Monitoring, 1985-1988

The Endicott Environmental Monitoring Program database contains oceanographic, meteorological, and fisheries data for the Prudhoe Bay region in the Beaufort Sea from 1985 to 1987, with some fish overwintering data from 1988. Data includes CTD measurements, currents, river discharge, coastal sediments, and snow geese observations, with some records related to breaches in the Endicott causeway. The original data was submitted on 10 diskettes to the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) and is stored in NODC formats.

Use Cases

• Analyzing seasonal oceanographic patterns (e.g., currents, CTD data) in the Prudhoe Bay region.
• Studying the impact of coastal infrastructure (Endicott causeway breaches) on local hydrodynamics.
• Assessing fisheries and fish overwintering habitat conditions in the Arctic Beaufort Sea.
• Correlating meteorological observations with river discharge and coastal sediment transport data.

Strengths

• Covers a multi-year time series from 1985 to 1988, providing a temporal baseline for the region.
• Includes data from multiple environmental domains (oceanography, meteorology, fisheries, sediments) allowing for interdisciplinary study.
• Documentation includes detailed format files (FORMAT85.TXT, FORMAT86.TXT, FORMAT87.TXT) specifying record counts (925, 1763, 2542 respectively).

Limitations

• Column names and specific data schema are unknown, limiting immediate usability.
• Metadata conflicts exist: the 'last updated' date is listed as both 1988-12-31 and 2026-03-05 across different platform entries.
• The dataset's original format (NODC formats on 10 diskettes) may require conversion or specialized tools for modern analysis.

Provenance

Source

Data submitted by Peter G. Hummer to the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), collected under the Endicott program implemented by Ebasco Environmental.

Collection Method

Field monitoring program collecting oceanographic (CTD, currents), meteorological, fisheries, river discharge, coastal sediment, and snow geese data.

Time Range

1985-01-01 to 1988-12-31

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:20:18.554401

Geography

Prudhoe Bay region, North Alaska, Beaufort Sea (approximately 152°W / 68°N)