NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown 2021 Underway Ocean Carbon and Surface Data

Surface underway observations of air-sea carbon dioxide exchange, temperature, and salinity collected during NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown cruises. The data include measurements of partial pressure of carbon dioxide in air and water, barometric pressure, and sea surface temperature. These data were collected by NOAA NCEI from March 15 to March 30, 2021, as part of the Ship of Opportunity Program.

Use Cases

• Calculate air-sea CO2 flux using the air-sea difference of partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) and barometric pressure.
• Analyze the relationship between sea surface temperature and pCO2 in water to study temperature's effect on oceanic carbon concentration.
• Correlate salinity measurements with pCO2 in water to investigate freshwater influence on carbon chemistry in coastal regions.
• Model spatial patterns of marine carbon parameters using georeferenced underway data from the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and North Pacific Ocean.

Strengths

• Data collected over a focused 16-day period in March 2021, providing a temporally consistent snapshot.
• Includes specific chemical measurements like pCO2 in atmosphere and water, captured using a CO2 gas analyzer and equilibrator.
• Covers multiple distinct ocean regions: the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and North Pacific Ocean.

Limitations

• Dataset size, row count, and specific sampling frequency are unknown, limiting reproducibility assessments.
• Temporal coverage is limited to a short, two-week period in 2021, preventing seasonal or long-term trend analysis.
• The absence of documented column names and sample data obscures the exact data structure and available variables.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) under Accession 0228760.

Collection Method

Surface underway data collected autonomously from NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown using a CO2 gas analyzer and shower head chamber equilibrator.

Time Range

2021-03-15 to 2021-03-30

Freshness

Data collection ended on 2021-03-30; it is a static, one-time cruise dataset.

Geography

Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, North Pacific Ocean.