SAVE Expeditions 1-4: Ocean Carbon and CFC Measurements

NCEI Accession 0117501 contains chemical, physical, and profile data from the R/V Knorr in the North and South Atlantic Ocean between November 1987 and April 1989. The dataset includes measurements of dissolved inorganic carbon, alkalinity, chlorofluorocarbons (CFC-11 and CFC-12), nutrients, oxygen, and hydrographic parameters collected via CTD casts and bottle samples. These observations were part of the SAVE_Expeditions_1_4 project led by researchers from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory.

Use Cases

• Tracking ocean carbon uptake and acidification based on dissolved inorganic carbon and alkalinity measurements.
• Studying the penetration and distribution of anthropogenic chlorofluorocarbons (CFC-11, CFC-12) in the Atlantic Ocean.
• Analyzing ocean ventilation and water mass age using tritium isotope data.
• Investigating nutrient cycling and biological productivity from nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, and silicate concentrations.
• Calibrating and validating ocean biogeochemical models with high-quality, discrete hydrographic and chemical profiles.

Strengths

• Covers a multi-year time series from 1987-11-24 to 1989-04-12.
• Includes a wide range of co-located chemical, physical, and tracer measurements from the same stations.
• Data collected by established oceanographic institutions (LDEO, NOAA AOML) using standard instruments (CTD, bottle).

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, specific column names, and license are not provided in any source.
• The dataset's age (1987-1989) may limit its utility for studying recent ocean changes.
• Spatial coverage is confined to specific cruise tracks in the North and South Atlantic Ocean.

Provenance

Source

Taro Takahashi (Columbia University; Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory) and Tsung-Hung Peng (NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory).

Collection Method

Discrete sample and profile observations collected using CTD and bottle instruments aboard the R/V Knorr.

Time Range

1987-11-24 to 1989-04-12

Freshness

Metadata was last updated on 2026-03-06 according to one platform, though the data collection ended in 1989.

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean and South Atlantic Ocean along cruise track 318MSAVE_1-4.