VOS Explorer of the Seas 2007: Surface Ocean Carbon and Meteorology

Bay of Fundy, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, North Atlantic Ocean, and Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary are the regions covered by this dataset of underway surface observations from the R/V Explorer of the Seas. It contains measurements of carbon dioxide partial pressure, salinity, sea surface temperature, dissolved oxygen, fluorescence, and meteorological variables collected during 47 cruises from December 2006 to December 2007. The data were collected using specialized instruments including a CO2 gas analyzer and thermosalinographs as part of the NOAA VOS (Voluntary Observing Ship) program.

Use Cases

• Calculating air-sea CO2 flux based on partial pressure difference measurements.
• Analyzing correlations between sea surface temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen levels.
• Studying spatial and temporal variability of surface ocean carbon parameters across the Atlantic basin.
• Validating satellite-derived sea surface temperature and ocean color products with in-situ data.

Strengths

• Covers a wide geographic area across five distinct marine regions in the Atlantic.
• Includes data from 47 separate research cruises (EX0701 - EX0747) over a nearly one-year period.
• Contains directly measured, co-located physical, chemical, and meteorological variables from a single platform.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, specific column names, and license are unavailable across all sources.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, with one showing 2007-12-01 and another showing a future date of 2026-03-05.
• Data granularity (e.g., temporal resolution) and documentation gaps are not described.

Provenance

Source

Rik Wanninkhof of NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML).

Collection Method

Underway surface observations collected from the R/V Explorer of the Seas using barometric pressure sensors, CO2 gas analyzers, shower head chamber equilibrators, and thermosalinographs.

Time Range

2006-12-31 to 2007-12-01

Freshness

2007-12-01

Geography

Bay of Fundy, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, North Atlantic Ocean, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary