Ocean-Atmosphere Carbon Dioxide Pressure Differences from SHIRASE Icebreaker

Partial pressure of CO2 measurements were collected from the surface ocean and lower troposphere aboard the Japanese icebreaker SHIRASE. Data capture the critical air-sea gradient (Delta pCO2) using non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) sensors. The dataset is provided by the organization SCIOPS.

Use Cases

• Quantify air-sea CO2 flux by modeling the transfer velocity using the measured Delta pCO2 gradient.
• Validate satellite-derived pCO2 estimates by comparing with in-situ lower troposphere measurements.
• Analyze temporal trends in oceanic carbon uptake in polar regions using the time-series of surface ocean pCO2.
• Study spatial variability of the ocean carbon sink by mapping geospatial pCO2 observations from the cruise track.

Strengths

• Direct, concurrent measurements of pCO2 in both the surface ocean and overlying atmosphere.
• Data collected via established NDIR methodology for accurate CO2 concentration detection.

Limitations

• Unknown sample size and temporal coverage limit statistical analysis.
• Geographic coverage is restricted to the cruise track of the SHIRASE icebreaker, introducing spatial bias.

Provenance

Source

SCIOPS organization, accessed via NASA Earthdata.

Collection Method

In-situ measurements using non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) sensors aboard the icebreaker SHIRASE.

Geography

Cruise track of the SHIRASE icebreaker (polar regions implied).