Polarstern Cruise Carbon Dioxide Measurements

The Indian Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, and South Atlantic Ocean are the regions covered by this dataset of underway surface observations from the research vessel Polarstern. It contains measurements of carbon dioxide partial pressure in air and water, dissolved inorganic carbon, salinity, sea surface temperature, barometric pressure, and wind speed collected between October 4 and December 1, 2000. The data were gathered during the ANT-18 Legs 1 and 2 cruises using specialized gas analyzers and equilibrators.

Use Cases

• Calculating air-sea CO2 flux based on partial pressure measurements.
• Analyzing the relationship between sea surface temperature and carbon dioxide solubility.
• Validating ocean carbon cycle models with in-situ dissolved inorganic carbon data.
• Studying spatial variability of surface ocean carbon parameters along cruise tracks.
• Correlating meteorological conditions like wind speed with gas transfer velocities.

Strengths

• Data collection uses specialized instruments including a Carbon dioxide (CO2) gas analyzer and Shower head chamber equilibrator.
• Covers a specific two-month time range (2000-10-04 to 2000-12-01) across multiple ocean basins.
• Appears on multiple authoritative platforms (NASA Earthdata, Data.gov), suggesting validation and importance.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are missing from all sources.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (2000-12-01 vs. 2026-03-06) create uncertainty about metadata freshness.
• License information is not provided, which restricts clarity on reuse permissions.

Provenance

Source

Dorothee C. E. Bakker of University of East Anglia; School of Environmental Science

Collection Method

Underway - surface observations collected from the research vessel POLARSTERN.

Time Range

2000-10-04 to 2000-12-01

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:11:43.645321

Geography

Indian Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean