RC007 Cruise: Puget Sound Carbon and Biogeochemical Profile Data, 2018

Puget Sound and Salish Sea waters were sampled during a 2018 cruise aboard the R/V Rachel Carson. The dataset contains discrete profile measurements of dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, nutrients, oxygen, temperature, and salinity from five time-series stations. It was collected by the Washington Ocean Acidification Center to support ocean acidification monitoring and conforms to Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network guidelines.

Use Cases

• Modeling ocean acidification dynamics based on dissolved inorganic carbon and total alkalinity measurements.
• Analyzing vertical water column structure based on CTD cast data for temperature, salinity, and oxygen.
• Studying nutrient distributions and their relationship to biological processes in coastal waters.
• Calibrating and validating sensor data using discrete water sample analyses.

Strengths

• Data collection followed climate-quality monitoring guidelines from the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network.
• Cruise was designed for a synoptic snapshot, covering five time-series stations in the Salish Sea and adjoining coastal waters.
• Includes both sensor-based CTD data and laboratory-analyzed discrete water samples for key parameters.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Discrete water samples collected via Niskin bottles and CTD casts, with subsequent laboratory analysis.

Time Range

2018-09-11 to 2018-09-15

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-05 23:58:29.685724; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Puget Sound, Salish Sea, and adjoining coastal waters in Washington State, USA.