Seaglider Oceanographic Measurements at Station PAPA in 2008

Oceanographic sensor data collected by an autonomous Seaglider vehicle during a mission at Ocean Station PAPA in the North Pacific. The dataset contains measurements of temperature, salinity, and depth-averaged currents along a sawtooth trajectory through the water column. It was collected by the University of Washington and archived by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information from June to August 2008.

Use Cases

• Analyzing temperature and salinity profiles to study water mass structure and mixing in the Gulf of Alaska.
• Calculating depth-averaged currents from glider trajectory data to estimate subsurface flow patterns.
• Correlating sensor measurements with glider dive cycles to model bio-optical or chemical properties.
• Validating regional ocean circulation models using in-situ time-series data from a fixed location.

Strengths

• Data collected by a specialized autonomous platform designed for long-duration scientific missions.
• Measurements cover a continuous three-month time range during a key summer period.

Limitations

• The dataset is from a single vehicle deployment, limiting spatial coverage to one location.
• Data is over 15 years old, which may reduce relevance for studying recent oceanographic changes.
• Specific row counts, column details, and data formats are not provided in the metadata.

Provenance

Source

University of Washington's School of Oceanography and Applied Physics Laboratory, archived by NOAA NCEI.

Collection Method

Collected by a buoyancy-driven Seaglider autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) on a sawtooth trajectory.

Time Range

2008-06-08 to 2008-08 30

Freshness

Static historical dataset; last updated 2008-08-30.

Geography

North Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Alaska, Ocean Station PAPA.