WOCE_A09 Cruise: Carbon and Tracer Measurements in the South Atlantic Ocean

NODC Accession 0115022 contains 22 chemical and physical variables collected from the R/V METEOR during cruise WOCE_A09 from February 10 to March 23, 1991. The dataset includes discrete measurements of dissolved inorganic carbon, alkalinity, chlorofluorocarbons, and stable isotopes, providing a snapshot of ocean biogeochemistry. It is part of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment, which aimed to understand the ocean's role in climate.

Use Cases

• Tracing ocean ventilation and water mass age based on Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-113) and tritium concentrations.
• Assessing the ocean's carbon sink capacity based on dissolved inorganic carbon, alkalinity, and partial pressure of CO2 measurements.
• Calibrating and validating ocean biogeochemical models using profiles of nitrate, phosphate, silicate, and dissolved oxygen.
• Studying natural and anthropogenic climate influences using delta Carbon-14 and delta Helium-3 isotope ratios.

Strengths

• Contains a detailed suite of 22 co-located chemical and physical variables from a single research cruise.
• Part of the large-scale World Ocean Circulation Experiment, which collected data from approximately 23,000 stations across 94 cruises.
• Data collection methodology is specified, using CTD and bottle instruments for discrete sample and profile observations.

Limitations

• Specific row count, file size, and column structure are unknown from all sources.
• Author affiliations are inconsistently reported across platforms (e.g., 'Kenneth Johnson [affiliation unknown]' vs. 'Brookhaven National Laboratory').
• License information is not provided in any source.

Provenance

Source

Douglas Wallace (Universität Kiel) and Kenneth Johnson, collected during WOCE cruise A09 on R/V METEOR.

Collection Method

Discrete sample and profile observations collected using CTD and bottle instruments.

Time Range

1991-02-10 to 1991-03-23

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:13:24.793238

Geography

South Atlantic Ocean