Wellington Maru Cruise: Surface Carbon and Meteorological Data

Surface underway data from the WELLINGTON MARU research cruise collected air and water carbon dioxide partial pressure, salinity, sea surface temperature, wind, and atmospheric pressure. Measurements were taken in the Coral Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, Solomon Sea, and South Pacific Ocean between November 4 and 13, 1988. The dataset was collected by researchers from Hokkaido University and the Meteorological Research Institute using carbon dioxide gas analyzers and equilibrators.

Use Cases

• Analyzing air-sea carbon dioxide flux gradients based on partial pressure measurements in water and atmosphere.
• Correlating sea surface temperature and salinity with oceanic carbon dioxide fugacity.
• Studying synoptic meteorological conditions (wind speed, direction, air temperature, pressure) during a Pacific Ocean cruise.
• Validating or calibrating models of surface ocean carbon chemistry using historical in-situ measurements.

Strengths

• Includes directly measured carbon dioxide fugacity in both air and water, a key variable for flux calculations.
• Covers a specific, well-documented 10-day research cruise (We8811) with clear temporal bounds.
• Data is hosted on multiple authoritative platforms (NASA Earthdata, Data.gov), indicating vetting and persistence.

Limitations

• Key metadata is missing or conflicting across sources: row count, file size, license, and exact column names are unknown.
• The dataset is historical (1988), limiting its use for contemporary analysis without complementary recent data.
• Instrument details are limited to two devices, but full data collection methodology is not described.

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

1988-11-04 to 1988-11-13

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:37:51.610064

Geography

Coral Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, Solomon Sea, South Pacific Ocean