Over a million observations of surface water fugacity of carbon dioxide (fCO2w) and derived chemical parameters for the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and North-East Atlantic Ocean. The dataset was produced by NOAA NCEI from automated systems installed on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines ships, covering the period from March 2003 to December 2019.
Use Cases
- Analyze temporal trends in surface water fCO2w and calculated pH across the northern Caribbean Sea from 2003 to 2019.
- Model spatial patterns of aragonite saturation state (ΩAr) to assess coral reef vulnerability to ocean acidification.
- Calculate air-sea CO2 flux magnitudes and directions to quantify the region's role as a carbon source or sink.
- Correlate derived total alkalinity (TA) with other oceanographic parameters to understand carbonate system dynamics.
Strengths
- Over one million surface water carbon observations.
- Covers a 17-year time span from 2003 to 2019.
- Transformed the Northern Caribbean into one of the world's best-sampled ocean regions for pCO2.
Limitations
- Data collection is limited to major shipping routes of specific cruise lines, creating spatial sampling bias.
- Derived parameters (pH, ΩAr) are calculated, not directly measured, introducing model-dependent uncertainty.
- No data available prior to the automated system installation in the early 2000s.
Provenance
- Source
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI Accession 0207749).
- Collection Method
- Automated pCO2 systems installed on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines ships (e.g., Explorer of the Seas, Celebrity Equinox).
- Time Range
- 2003-03-01 to 2019-12-30
- Freshness
- Data collection ended on 2019-12-30.
- Geography
- Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and North-East Atlantic Ocean.