WOCE P14SP15S: Ocean Carbon and CFC Data from the South Pacific

NCEI Accession 0115155 contains chemical, physical, and profile data from the NOAA Ship DISCOVERER cruise WOCE_P14SP15S. The dataset includes measurements of carbon dioxide parameters, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), nutrients, and hydrographic variables collected via CTD and bottle casts in the South Pacific Ocean, Southern Oceans, and Tasman Sea. It is part of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment's CO2 survey, which aimed to understand the ocean's role in climate.

Use Cases

• Tracing anthropogenic carbon uptake in the ocean based on dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and CFC measurements.
• Dating water masses and studying ocean circulation using chlorofluorocarbon (CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-113) concentrations.
• Investigating ocean acidification processes by analyzing pH, total alkalinity (TA), and partial pressure of CO2.
• Assessing marine nutrient cycles and productivity from nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, and silicate profiles.
• Calibrating and validating ocean biogeochemical models with high-quality, co-located physical and chemical profile data.

Strengths

• Data is part of the authoritative World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) Hydrographic Program, a major international climate research effort.
• Includes a wide suite of co-located variables (over 20 listed) crucial for coupled oceanographic and biogeochemical studies.
• Collection methodology is explicitly stated, using standard oceanographic instruments (CTD and bottle).

Limitations

• Key metadata is missing: specific column names, row count, file size, and license are not provided in any source.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (1996-03-10 vs. 2026-03-05), creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.
• The dataset's scale is unclear; while the broader WOCE collection is described (23,000 stations), the size of this specific cruise dataset is unknown.

Provenance

Source

Data collected by scientists from Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, NOAA AOML, NOAA PMEL, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Collection Method

Discrete sample and profile observations collected using CTD and bottle instruments from the NOAA Ship DISCOVERER.

Time Range

1996-01-05 to 1996-03-10

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:43:52.353256 (from datagov, though this may reflect metadata update rather than data collection).

Geography

South Pacific Ocean, Southern Oceans (> 60 degrees South), and Tasman Sea