CARINA: Subsurface Ocean Biogeochemistry from the Johan Hjort

CARINA project data from the R/V Johan Hjort provides discrete water sample and CTD profile measurements of over 20 chemical and physical oceanographic variables. Collected during two World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) cruises in 1992 and 1994, it includes rare tracers like chlorofluorocarbons (CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-113), carbon tetrachloride, and helium isotopes alongside standard nutrient and carbon system parameters. This dataset supports the study of ocean carbon uptake, water mass ventilation, and biogeochemical cycles in the North Atlantic, Greenland, and Norwegian Seas.

Use Cases

• Calibrating ocean carbon cycle models based on dissolved inorganic carbon and partial pressure of CO2 measurements.
• Tracing water mass age and ventilation rates using chlorofluorocarbon and tritium-helium-3 data.
• Investigating nutrient dynamics and primary production from nitrate, phosphate, and silicate profiles.
• Assessing decadal changes in ocean biogeochemistry by comparing 1992 and 1994 cruise data.

Strengths

• Contains a wide range of 20+ co-located biogeochemical variables, including rare tracers like CFCs and helium isotopes.
• Data is part of the international CARINA synthesis project, which produced a merged, internally consistent dataset.
• Covers two distinct research cruises over a multi-year period (1992-07-12 to 1994-08-16).

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, column names, and license are consistently reported as unknown or null across all platform entries.
• Conflicting author affiliation details exist between sources (e.g., 'Icelandic Marine Research Institute' vs. 'Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization').
• Documentation is sparse, with no explicit column schema provided.

Provenance

Source

NOAA NCEI (National Centers for Environmental Information), CARINA (CARbon dioxide IN the Atlantic Ocean) project.

Collection Method

Discrete water samples and continuous profiles collected using CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth) and bottle instruments aboard the R/V Johan Hjort.

Time Range

1992-07-12 to 1994-08-16

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:13:23.666371

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean, North Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea