PISTON: Autonomous Ocean Data from the Philippine Sea, 2018-2019

Data from the Philippine Sea, north of Palau, was collected between August 2018 and September 2019 during the Propagation of Intra-Seasonal Tropical Oscillations (PISTON) field campaign. The dataset contains oceanographic measurements from eight drifting profiling floats and two full-depth moorings, targeting the Boreal Summer Intraseasonal Oscillation (BSISO) and multi-scale air-sea interactions. It represents a joint effort by NASA, the Office of Naval Research (ONR), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Use Cases

• Analyzing subsurface ocean current speed and direction profiles from drifting floats to study ocean circulation.
• Investigating the vertical structure of ocean temperature and salinity to understand heat and freshwater fluxes.
• Studying turbulence and water pressure data to characterize ocean mixing processes.
• Correlating autonomous platform data with concurrent shipboard and airborne observations from the PISTON and CAMP2Ex campaigns.
• Tracking the evolution of the Boreal Summer Intraseasonal Oscillation (BSISO) through in-situ oceanic time series.

Strengths

• Data collection involved multiple coordinated platforms, including eight SOLO-II profiling floats and two full-depth moorings.
• Campaign spanned over a year (August 2018 to September 2019), capturing seasonal and intraseasonal variability.
• Collaborative effort involving major U.S. agencies (NASA, ONR, NOAA) and international partners (Japanese R/V Mirai).

Limitations

• Column names and precise data structure are not specified in the available metadata.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (2018 vs. 2026) across platforms create uncertainty about metadata freshness.
• Exact row counts, file sizes, and specific license terms are not provided.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of Naval Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Collection Method

Collected using Sounding Oceanographic Lagrangian Observer II (SOLO-II) instruments deployed from research vessels.

Time Range

August 2018 - September 2019

Freshness

2026-04-09 20:35:35.436353

Geography

Philippine Sea, tropical northwestern Pacific Ocean north of Palau