Surface Ocean CO2 and Temperature Measurements from a Cruise Ship in 2018

NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory collected sea surface and atmospheric measurements aboard the cruise ship Allure of the Seas in 2018. The dataset includes partial pressure of carbon dioxide, temperature, and salinity from underway observations in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and North Atlantic Ocean. Data was archived by the National Centers for Environmental Information in January 2019.

Use Cases

• Analyzing spatial and temporal trends in sea surface partial pressure of carbon dioxide (fCO2) across the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.
• Correlating sea surface temperature and salinity measurements with CO2 levels to study their influence on gas solubility.
• Validating satellite-derived sea surface CO2 estimates using in-situ underway observation data from a fixed ship track.
• Investigating air-sea CO2 flux by comparing surface water fCO2 with concurrent atmospheric measurements.

Strengths

• Data collected via an autonomous instrument on a commercial vessel, providing continuous underway observations.
• Geographic coverage spans multiple major ocean basins: the North Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea.
• Temporal coverage is focused on the full year of 2018, allowing for seasonal analysis.

Limitations

• Specific row count, column details, and sample size are unknown, limiting assessment of statistical power.
• Data is from a single vessel's track, which may not be representative of the entire spatial domain.
• The dataset is temporally static, with no updates planned beyond the 2018 collection period.

Provenance

Source

NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) Ocean Carbon Group, archived at NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Collection Method

Surface underway measurements collected autonomously from the Cruise Ship Allure of the Seas as part of the Ships of Opportunity program.

Time Range

2018

Freshness

Data is from 2018, with a last update recorded in January 2019.

Geography

Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and North Atlantic Ocean along the ship's route.