WOCE_SR03_1998: Southern Ocean Carbon and Hydrographic Profiles from 1998

Discrete profile measurements of dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, nutrients, and delta C13 were collected during the R/V Aurora Australis cruise AA9706 in the Southern Ocean from 1998-02-28 to 1998-04-01. The data were collected by researchers from CSIRO, UNSW, and the University of Tasmania as part of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) Hydrographic Program. The final WOCE collection from this period covers approximately 23,000 stations from 94 cruises.

Use Cases

• Modeling ocean carbon uptake based on dissolved inorganic carbon and alkalinity measurements.
• Analyzing water mass properties and circulation in the Southern Ocean based on temperature, salinity, and oxygen profiles.
• Studying nutrient dynamics and biological productivity based on nitrate and phosphate data.
• Investigating carbon isotope (delta C13) distributions to trace carbon sources and cycling.

Strengths

• Data is part of the major World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) collection, which aimed for global coverage and high-quality standards.
• Includes multiple co-located variables (carbon, nutrients, physical properties) from a single research cruise, enabling multivariate analysis.
• Cruise took place during a key period (1998) for establishing a baseline of ocean carbon conditions.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count for this specific cruise is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect temporal and geographic bias inherent to a single ship-based expedition in the Southern Ocean.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Discrete sample and profile observations collected from the R/V Aurora Australis.

Time Range

1998-02-28 to 1998-04-01

Freshness

Metadata was last updated 2026-03-06 00:16:55.419550; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Southern Ocean