R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer: Surface Ocean Carbon Measurements

Surface underway data from the R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer was collected in the South Pacific, South Atlantic, and Southern Oceans between December 24, 2017, and December 3, 2018. Measurements include partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) in water, sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity, and barometric pressure, gathered using a CO2 gas analyzer and equilibrator. This dataset supports research on ocean carbon uptake and acidification in high-latitude regions.

Use Cases

• Modeling air-sea CO2 flux based on pCO2 measurements.
• Analyzing ocean acidification trends using pCO2 and sea surface temperature data.
• Calibrating satellite-derived salinity and temperature products with in-situ sea surface salinity and temperature measurements.
• Studying Southern Ocean carbon sink variability using the spatial and temporal coverage.

Strengths

• Data collection spans a full year (2017-12-24 to 2018-12-03), providing seasonal coverage.
• Includes key variables for carbon cycle research: pCO2, sea surface temperature, and salinity.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov signals its importance and curation.

Limitations

• Column names and exact data structure are not provided in any source, limiting immediate usability.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (2018-12-03 vs. 2026-03-05) create uncertainty about metadata freshness.
• No row count, file size, or license information is available from any source.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)

Collection Method

Surface underway measurements collected via Carbon dioxide (CO2) gas analyzer and shower head chamber equilibrator.

Time Range

2017-12-24 to 2018-12-03

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:21:40.640392

Geography

South Pacific Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean, Southern Ocean