The Bering Sea, North Pacific Ocean, and Southern Oceans host this dataset of discrete water sample and profile measurements from the 1973-1974 GEOSECS Pacific expedition. It contains chemical and physical variables including dissolved inorganic carbon, alkalinity, nutrients, and isotopes, collected by researchers from Columbia and Princeton universities. Data collection occurred from August 1973 to June 1974 aboard the R/V Melville.
Use Cases
- Calculate ocean carbon uptake and storage using DISSOLVED INORGANIC CARBON (DIC) and TOTAL ALKALINITY (TA) measurements.
- Analyze nutrient cycling and limitations by correlating NITRATE, NITRITE, phosphate, and silicate concentrations with location and depth.
- Study water mass age and circulation using tracer data like DELTA CARBON-14, Tritium, and DELTA HELIUM-3.
- Model physical oceanographic properties by examining profiles of WATER TEMPERATURE, SALINITY, and Potential temperature (theta) against HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE.
- Assess baseline ocean chemistry conditions from the 1970s by analyzing the full suite of chemical and physical variables across the sampled regions.
Strengths
- Includes 15+ specific chemical and physical variables per observation, enabling multi-parameter analysis.
- Covers a wide geographic scope across the Pacific and Southern Oceans, including the Bering Sea and Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
- Provides data from a historically significant oceanographic program (GEOSECS), offering a 1970s baseline.
Limitations
- Data is from a single, short-term expedition (1973-1974), limiting temporal analysis of long-term trends.
- Sample size and spatial resolution are constrained by the cruise track and discrete sampling methods of the era.
- The dataset's age may mean metadata and measurement techniques differ from modern standards.
Provenance
- Source
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), originating from the GEOSECS_Pacific data set.
- Collection Method
- Data collected from discrete water samples and CTD profiles using bottle and CTD instruments.
- Time Range
- 1973-08-22 to 1974-06-09
- Freshness
- null
- Geography
- Bering Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, South Pacific Ocean, Southern Oceans (>60 degrees South)