SPURS-2 CFT: Ocean Surface Turbulence and Heat Flux Measurements

SPURS-2 Controlled Flux Technique (CFT) data is a NASA-funded oceanographic dataset from the Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study. It contains video and metadata files capturing measurements of turbulent kinetic energy dissipation and net heat transfer velocity at the ocean surface during two R/V Revelle cruises in August 2016 and October 2017. The data was collected to study rainfall-driven surface dynamics in the eastern tropical Pacific near 10N,125W.

Use Cases

• Quantifying raindrop-induced surface turbulence based on thermal decay measurements from infrared video.
• Scaling net heat transfer velocity in the ocean surface layer based on derived turbulent kinetic energy dissipation.
• Studying the dynamics of the eastern Pacific fresh pool based on in-situ data collected near 10N,125W.
• Validating satellite-derived salinity fields from Aquarius, SMAP, and SMOS using coordinated in-situ process studies.

Strengths

• Data is part of a major, multi-platform NASA field campaign (SPURS-2) employing state-of-the-art in-situ sampling.
• Provides direct, high-resolution measurements of surface turbulence and heat flux, a key process for air-sea interaction studies.
• Campaign involved coordinated sampling from the R/V Revelle and the schooner Lady Amber over a multi-month period in 2016-2017.

Limitations

• Core metadata is incomplete: column names, row counts, and dataset size are unknown across all platforms.
• Data format is specialized (.raw video with .met headers), which likely requires specific tools and expertise for processing and analysis.
• License is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without clear terms for reuse.

Provenance

Source

NASA SPURS-2 oceanographic field campaign.

Collection Method

In-situ measurements using the Controlled Flux Technique (CFT), involving laser heating and infrared imaging of the ocean surface.

Time Range

August 2016 to October 2017

Freshness

2026-04-09 22:44:53.259148

Geography

Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean, focused near 10N,125W.