OMG Narwhals: Daily Oceanographic Mooring Data Near Greenland Glaciers

Five bottom-mounted moorings collected daily-averaged ocean temperature and salinity measurements year-round between 2018 and 2020 near three glacier fronts in Greenland: Sverdrup Glacier, Kong Oscar Glacier, and Rink Glacier. The dataset originates from NASA's OMG Narwhals project, which aims to understand the ecological importance of glacial habitats to narwhals. It provides year-round observations to address a bias towards summer-only ocean data along Greenland's margins.

Use Cases

• Analyzing seasonal and interannual variability in ocean temperature and salinity near glacier fronts.
• Investigating correlations between oceanographic conditions and narwhal site fidelity to specific glacial outlets.
• Validating and improving models of ocean heat delivery to Greenland's glaciers.
• Studying year-round fjord dynamics in under-observed Arctic regions.

Strengths

• Provides year-round measurements from 2018-2020, addressing a known bias towards summer-only data.
• Data is collected from five distinct mooring locations near three named glacier fronts, offering spatial context.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov signals importance and formal curation.

Limitations

• Column names and specific data structure are not provided in any source description.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (2026-04-09 vs 2020-08-31) create uncertainty about metadata freshness.
• The dataset size and row count are listed as 'unknown' or 'None' across all platforms.

Provenance

Source

NASA's Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) campaign, OMG Narwhals project.

Collection Method

Measurements from CTD and temperature loggers on bottom-mounted moorings with marine mammal acoustic recorders.

Time Range

2018 to 2020

Freshness

2026-04-09 23:30:43.806796

Geography

Greenland, near Sverdrup Glacier, Kong Oscar Glacier, and Rink Glacier.