CARINA: Arctic Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemical Measurements from 1992

CARINA (CARbon dioxide IN the Atlantic Ocean) project data includes dissolved inorganic carbon, alkalinity, nutrients, and other variables collected from the USCGC POLAR SEA in the North Greenland Sea. Measurements were taken from discrete bottle samples and CTD profiles during a one-month cruise from July 15 to August 14, 1992. Jody Deming of the University of Washington collected these data as part of an international synthesis effort for biogeochemical investigations.

Use Cases

• Modeling ocean carbon uptake and acidification based on dissolved inorganic carbon and alkalinity measurements.
• Analyzing nutrient cycling and primary productivity based on nitrate, phosphate, silicate, and chlorophyll a data.
• Studying water mass age and circulation using helium, tritium, and delta helium-3 tracer data.
• Investigating Arctic marine microbial biomass based on bacterial density measurements.

Strengths

• Data is part of the CARINA international synthesis project, which produced a merged, internally consistent dataset for biogeochemical studies.
• Includes over 20 distinct chemical, biological, and physical variables for a comprehensive biogeochemical snapshot.
• Covers a specific one-month time frame (1992-07 15 to 1992-08-14) in the North Greenland Sea.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic and temporal bias inherent to a single ship cruise in 1992.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Discrete sample and profile observations using CTD and bottle instruments.

Time Range

1992-07-15 to 1992-08-14

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-05 23:09:43.816744; freshness should be verified.

Geography

North Greenland Sea