Benguela Stream Ship-Based Surface Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry

NCEI Accession 0157352 and related datasets contain surface underway measurements from the research vessel Benguela Stream. The data include biological, chemical, meteorological, optical, and physical variables such as partial pressure of carbon dioxide in air and water, dissolved inorganic carbon, chlorophyll, nutrients, salinity, and sea surface temperature. Measurements were collected using a Carbon dioxide (CO2) gas analyzer and other instruments across the Caribbean Sea, English Channel, and North Atlantic Ocean.

Use Cases

• Calculating air-sea CO2 flux based on partial pressure differences.
• Assessing ocean acidification trends using pH, dissolved inorganic carbon, and total alkalinity.
• Studying phytoplankton biomass distribution via chlorophyll and fluorescence measurements.
• Analyzing nutrient dynamics in surface waters using nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, and silicate data.
• Correlating surface ocean chemistry with meteorological conditions like wind speed and barometric pressure.

Strengths

• Data covers multiple distinct cruises over several years, including 2011, 2012, and 2013-2014.
• Includes a wide range of co-located biogeochemical, physical, and meteorological variables.
• Collected by named principal investigators from recognized institutions (University of Exeter, Plymouth Marine Laboratory).

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are not provided on any platform.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (e.g., 2026-03-05 vs. 2014-01-05), obscuring data currency.
• License information is consistently missing across all source descriptions.

Provenance

Source

University of Exeter and Plymouth Marine Laboratory researchers, submitted to NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Collection Method

Surface underway observations collected from the vessel Benguela Stream using a Carbon dioxide (CO2) gas analyzer and other instruments.

Time Range

2011-01-08 to 2014-01-05

Freshness

Most recent platform update recorded was 2026-03-05 on datagov, though the underlying data collection ended in 2014.

Geography

Caribbean Sea, English Channel, North Atlantic Ocean