PACIFICA PR20: Ocean Interior Carbon and Hydrographic Profiles

NCEI Accession 0115600 contains chemical, physical, and profile data from a 1990 research cruise in the Philippine Sea. The dataset includes measurements of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC-11, CFC-12), dissolved oxygen, nutrients, salinity, and temperature, collected using CTD and bottle instruments. It was produced as part of the international PACIFICA project for synthesizing Pacific Ocean interior carbon data.

Use Cases

• Tracing water mass age and ventilation rates based on CFC-11 and CFC-12 concentrations.
• Analyzing nutrient stoichiometry and biological productivity from nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, and silicate measurements.
• Calibrating ocean carbon cycle models using hydrographic profile data of temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen.
• Studying the spatial structure of the carbon system in the Philippine Sea from discrete bottle sample data.

Strengths

• Includes multiple related parameter groups (chemical, physical, profile) from a single cruise, enabling multivariate analysis.
• Data collection is associated with a defined international scientific project (PACIFICA) and specific cruise IDs (PR20, PACIFICA_21OR19901011).
• Instruments used (CTD and bottle) are standard for high-quality oceanographic profile data.

Limitations

• Key metadata is missing: row count, file size, column names, and specific license are not provided by any source.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (1990-10-15 vs. 2026-03-05), creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.
• The dataset's spatial and temporal scope is limited to a single 5-day cruise in 1990.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce; data collected by researchers from National Central University and National Taiwan Ocean University.

Collection Method

Discrete sample and profile observations collected using CTD and bottle instruments from the R/V Ocean Researcher I.

Time Range

1990-10-11 to 1990-10-15

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:01:02.964737

Geography

Philippine Sea