Coastal Carbon Measurements from NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson

NCEI Accession 0144980 contains surface underway data collected from NOAA Ship OSCAR DYSON during a 2014 cruise in the Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, and North Pacific Ocean. The dataset includes measurements of the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in air and water, salinity, sea surface temperature, and barometric pressure, collected using specialized instruments like CO2 gas analyzers and thermosalinographs. These data are part of the Global Coastal Carbon Data Project, which focuses on carbon cycle dynamics on continental margins.

Use Cases

• Calculating air-sea CO2 flux based on partial pressure difference measurements.
• Monitoring ocean acidification trends in coastal waters using pCO2 and temperature data.
• Validating regional carbon cycle models with in-situ salinity and sea surface temperature observations.
• Assessing seasonal carbon dynamics in the North Pacific Ocean using time-series cruise data.

Strengths

• Data collected by named principal investigators from NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, a leading authority.
• Covers a specific 5-month time range from March 3 to August 13, 2014, providing a seasonal snapshot.
• Instruments are explicitly listed, including barometric pressure sensors and shower head chamber equilibrators, detailing collection methodology.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, license, and specific column names are unavailable across all sources.
• Conflicting author order is presented between sources (Alin, Feely, Cosca vs. Cosca, Feely, Alin).
• The dataset's freshness is unclear, with one source showing a 2026 'last updated' date that likely reflects metadata refresh, not new data.

Provenance

Source

US DOC; NOAA; OAR; Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL)

Collection Method

Surface underway observations from a research vessel using barometric pressure sensors, CO2 gas analyzers, and thermosalinographs.

Time Range

2014-03-03 to 2014-08-13

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:27:10.861597 (metadata update)

Geography

Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, North Pacific Ocean