ASV_Saildrone1003: Ocean Surface Carbon and Physical Properties

NOAA_NCEI Accession 0209684 contains surface underway measurements from the Autonomous Surface Vehicle ASV_Saildrone1003 (EXPOCODE 32DB20180327). The dataset includes mole fractions, fugacity, and partial pressure of CO2 in air and seawater, alongside sea surface temperature, salinity, pH, and oxygen ratios. Data were collected in the South Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea from March 27 to April 22, 2018.

Use Cases

• Calculating air-sea CO2 flux gradients based on dfCO2 and dpCO2 measurements.
• Analyzing ocean acidification trends using pH (total scale) and sea surface temperature.
• Validating biogeochemical models with concurrent measurements of xCO2, SST, and SSS.
• Studying the performance of autonomous surface vehicles (Saildrones) for carbon system observation.

Strengths

• Provides a focused time series over a 27-day period with a specific vessel track.
• Includes multiple derived parameters (fugacity, partial pressure, mole fraction) for carbon dioxide analysis.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov suggests importance and validation.

Limitations

• Column names and exact row counts are not provided in any source, limiting immediate analysis.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (2018-04-22 and 2026-03-05) create uncertainty about metadata maintenance.
• License and author information are explicitly missing from all platform entries.

Provenance

Source

NOAA_NCEI

Collection Method

Collected via Autonomous Surface Vehicle CO2 (ASVCO2) instruments, including a bubble-type equilibrator and Licor 820, onboard ASV_Saildrone1003.

Time Range

2018-03-27 to 2018-04-22

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:30:07.430917

Geography

South Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea