PACIFICA: Ocean Carbon and Chemistry Measurements from the Pacific Ocean, 2003

The North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, and South Pacific Ocean are the geographic scope of this dataset. It contains discrete sample and profile observations of dissolved inorganic carbon, pH, alkalinity, temperature, salinity, and related biological and chemical variables. The data were collected from the KEIFU MARU research vessel between June 25 and August 7, 2003, as part of the PACIFICA project by researchers from the Japan Meteorological Agency and Meteorological Research Institute.

Use Cases

• Modeling ocean carbon uptake and storage based on dissolved inorganic carbon and alkalinity measurements.
• Studying ocean acidification trends based on pH and related carbonate system parameters.
• Analyzing nutrient distributions and their relationship to biological activity based on nitrate, phosphate, and silicate data.
• Investigating water mass age and circulation using chlorofluorocarbon (CFC-11, CFC-12) tracer data.

Strengths

• Includes over 20 measured variables covering the ocean carbonate system, nutrients, and physical properties.
• Data collected during a dedicated research cruise (PACIFICA_49FA20030625) with a clear temporal range (2003-06 25 to 2003-08-07).
• Part of an international collaborative synthesis project (PACIFICA) supported by PICES.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is from a single cruise in 2003, limiting temporal generalizability.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Data collected from discrete sample and profile observations using CTD, Coulometer for DIC measurement, and bottle instruments.

Time Range

2003-06-25 to 2003-08-07

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-05 22:41:39.840484; freshness should be verified.

Geography

North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, South Pacific Ocean