Prince of Seas Cruise: Ocean Carbon and Atmospheric Measurements

From June 1994 to August 1995, the PRINCE OF SEAS research vessel collected surface underway measurements across the Caribbean Sea, English Channel, North Atlantic Ocean, and North Sea. The dataset includes partial pressure of carbon dioxide in air and water, barometric pressure, and sea surface temperature, recorded using a Carbon dioxide (CO2) gas analyzer. It was collected by Andrew Watson of the Plymouth Marine Laboratory under the 'Prince of Seas (UK to Jamaica)' cruise identifier.

Use Cases

• Calculating air-sea CO2 flux based on partial pressure measurements in air and water.
• Analyzing spatial and temporal trends in surface ocean carbon chemistry across the Atlantic basin.
• Correlating sea surface temperature with carbon dioxide partial pressure in water.
• Studying meteorological influences on ocean carbon measurements using barometric pressure data.

Strengths

• Provides a continuous 14-month time series of carbon system measurements from 1994-06 03 to 1995-08-04.
• Contains directly measured, co-located variables (pCO2 in air/water, SST, pressure) relevant for flux calculations.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA EarthData and Data.gov signals recognized importance and curation.

Limitations

• Column names and exact data structure are not provided in any source description.
• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and license are consistently reported as unknown or null.
• Sources conflict on the 'last updated' date (2026-03-05 vs. 1995-08-04), indicating potential metadata freshness issues.

Provenance

Source

Andrew J. Watson, Plymouth Marine Laboratory; collected for the 'Prince of Seas (UK to Jamaica)' cruise.

Collection Method

Surface underway observations using a Carbon dioxide (CO2) gas analyzer and other instruments.

Time Range

1994-06-03 to 1995-08-04

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:25:11.085211

Geography

Caribbean Sea, English Channel, North Atlantic Ocean, North Sea