Oceanographic Station Measurements from 1898 to 1996

Historical physical-chemical oceanographic data from discrete depth levels, collected primarily via multi-bottle Nansen casts and some electronic CTD/STD recorders. The dataset was compiled by NOAA's National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) and contains observations from 1898 through 1996. Cruise information, position, date, time, and principal parameters like temperature and salinity are recorded for each station.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term trends in ocean temperature and salinity at standard depth levels.
• Studying the relationship between measured parameters like dissolved oxygen, phosphate, and silicate with computed values such as density (sigma-t).
• Correlating meteorological conditions (air temperature, wind, waves) reported at cast time with subsurface oceanographic measurements.
• Mapping the spatial distribution of water transparency (Secchi disk depth) and water color (Forel-Ule scale) from historical cruises.

Strengths

• Data spans nearly a century, from 1898 to 1996.
• Includes both directly measured parameters and computed values like sound velocity and dynamic depth anomaly.
• Observations are reported at both observed and interpolated standard depth levels for consistency.

Limitations

• A small sample size of data (approximately 5%) comes from modern electronic CTD/STD recorders, with the majority from older bottle casts.
• The dataset's last update was in 1991, making it temporally stale for contemporary analysis.
• Specific row counts, column counts, and geographic coverage details are unknown.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), originating from the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC).

Collection Method

Data gathered from ship-based oceanographic stations using multi-bottle Nansen casts and, to a lesser extent, electronic CTD/STD recorders.

Time Range

1898 to 1996

Freshness

Last updated on 1991-06-18; no ongoing update frequency specified.

Geography

Global ocean coverage from various cruise stations; specific regions not detailed.