Delaware Bay Estuarine pH and Carbon Chemistry Measurements from 2016

NCEI Accession 0168767 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration contains measurements of sea surface temperature, salinity, dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, pH, and colored dissolved organic matter. Data were collected from time series stations in Delaware Bay, specifically the Murderkill Estuary, between May 9 and August 24, 2016. The dataset was created to assess the suitability of Honeywell Durafet-based sensors for high-resolution pH measurement in dynamic estuarine environments.

Use Cases

• Validate sensor performance for high-frequency pH measurement based on the described Durafet sensor test.
• Analyze natural pH fluctuations in dynamic estuaries based on the described >1 pH unit variations.
• Model relationships between pH, dissolved inorganic carbon, and total alkalinity based on the measured variables.
• Assess data quality against the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOA-ON) weather-level precision standard (<0.02 pH) mentioned in the description.

Strengths

• Includes concurrent measurements of multiple key carbon system variables (pH, DIC, total alkalinity, temperature, salinity).
• Captured natural pH fluctuations exceeding 1 unit over a range of timescales, demonstrating sensor capability.
• Data collection targeted a specific, dynamic estuarine environment (Murderkill Estuary, Delaware Bay) over a defined period.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling.
• Data may reflect geographic and temporal bias inherent to the single estuary and 2016 sampling period.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Measurements from time series stations using Honeywell Durafet sensors and other instruments.

Time Range

2016-05 09 to 2016-08-24

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-05 22:45:34.738712; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Delaware Bay, specifically the Murderkill Estuary, Delaware, USA