R/V Knorr cruises in 1981 collected discrete samples for over 15 ocean chemistry variables, including carbon dioxide partial pressure, dissolved inorganic carbon, and total alkalinity. Taro Takahashi of Columbia University and Peter Brewer of Scripps Institution of Oceanography led the data collection using CTD and Niskin bottle instruments. This dataset captures a snapshot of the North Atlantic Ocean's carbon system during the Transient Tracers in the Ocean - North Atlantic Study (TTO-NAS).
Use Cases
- Calibrating ocean carbon cycle models based on dissolved inorganic carbon and alkalinity measurements.
- Studying historical water mass properties and ventilation based on tracer data like tritium and helium isotopes.
- Analyzing nutrient distributions and their relationship to biological productivity using silicate, nitrate, and phosphate data.
- Investigating air-sea CO2 flux dynamics using partial pressure (fugacity) of carbon dioxide and concurrent hydrographic data.
Strengths
- Data includes over 15 distinct chemical and physical variables for a multi-variable analysis.
- Samples were collected by leading oceanographic institutions (Columbia University and Scripps Institution of Oceanography).
- Observations cover a defined temporal period from April to October 1981.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Last updated 1981-10-19 00:00:00; freshness should be verified.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
Provenance
- Source
- NOAA_NCEI
- Collection Method
- Discrete sample and profile observations collected using CTD and Niskin bottles.
- Time Range
- 1981-04-01 to 1981-10-19
- Freshness
- 1981-10-19
- Geography
- North Atlantic Ocean