FRA Near-Japan pCO2 Cruises: Surface Carbon and Ocean Data, 2020

Surface underway data from the R/V Wakataka-Maru captures the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and water, sea surface salinity, temperature, and barometric pressure. Measurements were taken in the North Pacific Ocean from February 29 to December 8, 2020, using a CO2 gas analyzer and shower head chamber equilibrator. This dataset supports research on ocean carbon uptake and acidification dynamics in a key region.

Use Cases

• Calculating air-sea CO2 flux based on simultaneous atmospheric and aquatic pCO2 measurements.
• Analyzing seasonal variability in ocean carbon content from time-series data collected over ten months.
• Correlating sea surface temperature with pCO2 levels to study thermodynamic controls on gas solubility.
• Validating regional ocean carbon models using in-situ measurements from a ship-of-opportunity platform.

Strengths

• Provides simultaneous, co-located measurements of atmospheric and aquatic pCO2, enabling direct flux calculations.
• Covers a substantial temporal range of over ten months in 2020, allowing for seasonal analysis.
• Data is hosted by authoritative sources, including NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, specific column names, and data license are not provided in the available sources.
• The dataset's freshness is unclear due to conflicting 'last updated' dates (2020-12-08 vs. 2026-03-05) across platforms.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected via surface underway instruments (CO2 gas analyzer, shower head chamber equilibrator) on the R/V Wakataka-Maru.

Time Range

2020-02-29 to 2020-12-08

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:27:18.410548

Geography

North Pacific Ocean, near Japan