Antarctic Oceanographic and Nutrient Data from SIBEX II Cruise

Nella Dan SIBEX II cruise data contains CTD and nutrient measurements from 64 casts in Prydz Bay during January 1985. The dataset includes fields for nitrate, phosphate, silicate, temperature, salinity, and depth from stations targeting 1000 meters. Angela McGaffin updated the collection, which is managed by the Australian Antarctic Data Centre.

Use Cases

• Analyze nitrate, phosphate, and silicate concentrations against depth and temperature to model nutrient profiles.
• Correlate salinity and sigma-T with station position and date to study water mass structure in Prydz Bay.
• Model temperature deviation and conductivity deviation against pressure for sensor performance assessment.
• Examine geopotential anomaly and specific volume anomaly for dynamic height calculations.
• Map sea bottom depth and cast depth by station position for bathymetric and sampling coverage analysis.

Strengths

• 64 CTD casts provide multiple vertical profiles for analysis.
• Nutrient data (nitrate, phosphate, silicate) collected at 44 stations.
• Includes derived oceanographic variables like sigma-T and geopotential anomaly.

Limitations

• Data is from a single month in 1985, limiting temporal analysis.
• Nutrient sampling was supplemental to krill research and noted as not ideal for oceanographic purposes.
• Sample size and row count are unknown, preventing statistical power assessment.

Provenance

Source

Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AU_AADC).

Collection Method

CTD casts and nutrient sampling from the Nella Dan research vessel.

Time Range

January 1985.

Freshness

Last updated 1985-01-26; historical dataset with no ongoing updates.

Geography

Prydz Bay region, Antarctic.