OES 04-03: CTD Profiles from a NOAA South Pacific Cruise

NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette collected vertical profiles of temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and chloropigments during a March 2004 cruise near American Samoa. Meridional transects along 170.5W and 169W between 10S and 17S provide data down to 1000 decibars for the first three variables and 200 decibars for chloropigments. This finalized dataset supports analysis of oceanographic conditions in a specific region of the South Pacific.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical structure of temperature and salinity for water mass identification.
• Studying dissolved oxygen profiles to assess biological activity and ocean health.
• Mapping chloropigment concentrations to infer phytoplankton distribution.
• Comparing oceanographic conditions along the 170.5W and 169W meridional transects.
• Validating regional ocean models with in-situ profile data from a specific time period.

Strengths

• Data collection follows a structured cruise plan with specific transect lines (170.5W and 169W) and a defined latitudinal range (10S to 17S).
• Profile depths are explicitly documented, with three variables measured to 1000 decibars and chloropigments to 200 decibars.
• Dataset is finalized and appears on multiple authoritative platforms (NOAA Data.gov and NASA Earthdata), indicating a level of curation.

Limitations

• Column names and exact data structure are unknown, limiting detailed understanding of the file format.
• Key metadata like row count, file size, and license are missing across all sources.
• The last updated date conflicts between platforms (2004-03-15 vs. 2026-04-01), suggesting potential metadata inconsistency.

Provenance

Source

Ecosystems and Oceanography Division of the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, NOAA

Collection Method

Collected from CTD instruments aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette during cruise OES 04-03.

Time Range

2004-03-03 to 2004-03-15

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:12:45.630461

Geography

South Pacific Ocean near American Samoa, along meridional transects 170.5W and 169W between 10S and 17S.