Oceanographic CTD Cast Profiles from the Southeast Atlantic, 1983

Over 5,000 depth-level observations of temperature, salinity, pressure, and dissolved oxygen were collected from the R/V Knorr during the Agulhas Retroflection Cruise. The dataset, processed by NOAA's National Oceanographic Data Center, combines high-resolution CTD/STD instrument data with traditional Nansen cast measurements from November to December 1983. It includes interpolated standard depth levels and computed parameters like density and sound velocity.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical water column structure by plotting temperature and salinity against pressure/depth.
• Studying the Agulhas Retroflection region's oceanographic properties using station position, date, and time data.
• Calculating derived oceanographic parameters like density (sigma-t) and dynamic depth anomaly from the measured temperature and salinity.
• Correlating chemical parameters (dissolved oxygen, phosphate, silicate) with physical measurements to assess biogeochemical processes.
• Investigating surface conditions by examining reported meteorological data such as air temperature, pressure, and wind.

Strengths

• Data is processed to two standardized NODC formats (F022 and C100), ensuring consistency and interoperability.
• Includes both directly observed measurements and values interpolated to standard depth levels, facilitating comparative analysis.
• Covers a specific, important oceanographic feature (the Agulhas Retroflection) during a focused 28-day research cruise.

Limitations

• Critical metadata conflicts exist: row count, column names, and exact size are unknown across all sources.
• Approximately 95% of observations are from multi-bottle Nansen casts, with only about 5% from electronic CTD/STD recorders, limiting continuous high-resolution coverage.
• The last updated date is inconsistent, with one source reporting 1983-12-10 and others reporting 2026-03 05, creating uncertainty about provenance.

Provenance

Source

Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, with support from the Agulhas Retroflection Cruise (ARC) project.

Collection Method

Collected using Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) casts and multi-bottle Nansen casts from the R/V Knorr.

Time Range

1983-11-13 to 1983-12-10

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:54:16.417516

Geography

Southeast Atlantic Ocean