MRI Taisei Maru: Surface Ocean CO2 and Meteorological Measurements

NCEI Accession 0080992 contains surface underway observations from the research vessel TAISEI MARU across the Pacific and Indian Oceans from 1993 to 1998. The dataset includes measurements of carbon dioxide partial pressure in air and water, salinity, sea surface temperature, air temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed, and wind direction. Data were collected by researchers from Hokkaido University and the Meteorological Research Institute using carbon dioxide gas analyzers and equilibrators.

Use Cases

• Calculating air-sea CO2 flux based on partial pressure measurements and wind speed.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of ocean carbon uptake across major ocean basins.
• Validating and calibrating satellite-derived sea surface temperature and salinity products.
• Studying seasonal to interannual variability in surface ocean chemistry and meteorology.
• Assessing baseline ocean carbon conditions in marine monuments like Papahānaumokuākea.

Strengths

• Covers a multi-year time series from 1993-01-25 to 1998-03-07.
• Includes data from four distinct research cruises (9301, 9307, 9501, 9801).
• Measures a core suite of variables for ocean carbon cycle analysis.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all sources.
• The dataset is historical, with the last data collection date recorded as 1998-03-07.
• Platforms show conflicting last-updated timestamps (1998 vs. 2026), indicating potential metadata inconsistency.

Provenance

Source

Hisayuki Y. Inoue (Hokkaido University) and Masao Ishii (Meteorological Research Institute).

Collection Method

Surface underway observations using Carbon dioxide (CO2) gas analyzer and Shower head chamber equilibrator.

Time Range

1993-01-25 to 1998-03-07

Freshness

Metadata was last updated on 2026-03-05 according to two sources, though the underlying data collection ended in 1998.

Geography

Coral Sea, Indian Ocean, Inland Sea (Seto Naikai), North Pacific Ocean, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, Philippine Sea, Solomon Sea, South Pacific Ocean, Tasman Sea.