Santa Monica Pier Oceanographic Data from 2005 to 2020

From 2005-06-16 to 2020-12-31, automated sensors at Santa Monica Pier collected oceanographic and surface meteorological data. The Institute of the Environment at UCLA collected the data, which was assembled by the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System (SCCOOS) and submitted to NOAA NCEI. Measurements include chlorophyll-a concentration, conductivity, salinity, water temperature, and hydrostatic pressure.

Use Cases

• Monitoring algal bloom dynamics based on chlorophyll-a concentration data.
• Studying coastal mixing and upwelling patterns based on water temperature and salinity time series.
• Analyzing the impact of land run-off on nearshore water quality based on conductivity and salinity measurements.
• Modeling water density variations based on recorded temperature, salinity, and pressure data.

Strengths

• Data spans over 15 years, from 2005-06-16 to 2020-12-31.
• Includes multiple physical and biological parameters: chlorophyll-a, conductivity, salinity, temperature, pressure, and water density.
• Data is collected at frequent intervals from an automated shore station, suggesting consistent temporal resolution.
• Follows Climate and Forecast (CF) and Attribute Convention for Data Discovery (ACDD) metadata standards.

Limitations

• Last updated 2020-12-31; freshness should be verified.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Institute of the Environment at University of California, Los Angeles, assembled by Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System (SCCOOS).

Collection Method

Collected from an automated shore station with a suite of sensors attached to Santa Monica Pier.

Time Range

2005-06-16 to 2020-12-31

Freshness

Data is updated quarterly; last record is from 2020-12-31.

Geography

Coastal waters of California at Santa Monica Pier.