NASA SPURS Project: Ocean Salinity Profiles from ARGO Floats and Field Campaigns

NASA's SPURS project inventory includes oceanographic data from two field campaigns in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The data likely contain profiles of conductivity, salinity, temperature, pressure, and depth from approximately 24 ARGO floats deployed during SPURS-1 in 2012-2013. This dataset combines in-situ sampling with satellite remote sensing from Aquarius/SAC-D, SMOS, and SMAP to study near-surface salinity variations.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite sea surface salinity measurements based on in-situ ARGO float profiles mentioned in the description
• Modeling salinity balance and processes in high-evaporation ocean regions based on the described SPURS-1 study area
• Analyzing temporal salinity structure based on the 10-day cycle profile trajectories from ARGO floats
• Studying the dynamics of rainfall-dominated surface oceans based on the SPURS-2 campaign objectives described

Strengths

• Integrates data from multiple sources, including state-of-the-art in-situ sampling and satellite remote sensing as described
• Focuses on specific, well-defined study areas (e.g., a 900 x 800-mile square in the North Atlantic)
• Data is organized per float, providing a clear structure for time-series analysis

Limitations

• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• The description notes that only standard ARGO profiles are included, not additional sensor data from the campaign

Provenance

Source

NASA SPURS Project, hosted on aws_open_data

Collection Method

Collected via ARGO float deployments and field campaigns involving research vessels

Time Range

Includes data from SPURS-1 (2012-2013) and SPURS-2 (2016-2017) campaigns

Freshness

Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified

Geography

Study areas in the subtropical North Atlantic (SPURS-1) and the eastern tropical Pacific (SPURS-2)