WOCE SAVE Cruises: Atlantic Ocean Carbon and CFC Measurements

NODC Accession 0115014 and NCEI Accession 0157692 contain discrete chemical and physical oceanographic data from the R/V Melville and Knorr. These datasets include measurements of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC-11, CFC-12), dissolved inorganic carbon, alkalinity, and partial pressure of CO2, collected as part of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment's SAVE cruises. The data support analysis of ocean carbon uptake, tracer-based circulation studies, and baseline assessments for anthropogenic climate change.

Use Cases

• Quantifying oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide based on dissolved inorganic carbon and alkalinity measurements.
• Tracing water mass age and circulation pathways in the Atlantic Ocean using chlorofluorocarbon (CFC-11, CFC-12) concentrations.
• Calibrating and validating biogeochemical ocean models with high-quality, discrete bottle data for nutrients like nitrate, phosphate, and silicate.
• Establishing historical baselines for ocean acidification parameters by analyzing partial pressure of CO2 and total alkalinity.

Strengths

• Data is part of the authoritative World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) Hydrographic Program, a major international climate research effort.
• Includes a specific suite of co-located variables critical for carbon cycle and tracer studies, such as CFCs, DIC, alkalinity, and nutrients.
• Covers a wide temporal range from 1987-11-23 to 1989-04-19 across multiple cruise legs in the North and South Atlantic Ocean.

Limitations

• Key metadata is missing or conflicting: row counts, column names, and specific license information are not provided in any source.
• The dataset's relationship to the broader WOCE collection (23,000 stations from 94 cruises) is described, but the exact scale of this specific accession is unclear.
• Two different 'last updated' dates are provided (2026-03-05 and 1989-04-12), creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.

Provenance

Source

Taro Takahashi of Columbia University/Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory; other contributors include W. Smethie, Robert M. Key, W. Jenkins, and Mike McCartney.

Collection Method

Data collected from discrete water samples and continuous profiles using CTD and bottle instruments aboard research vessels.

Time Range

1987-11-23 to 1989-04-19

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:28:14.909319

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean and South Atlantic Ocean