PACIFICA_49RY19951115: Ocean Interior Carbon and Tracer Profiles

NODC Accession 0117669 contains chemical, physical, and profile data from a 15-day cruise in the Philippine Sea during November 1995. The dataset includes measurements for 15 parameters, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFC-11, CFC-12), dissolved oxygen, nutrients, salinity, and water temperature, collected using CTD and bottle instruments. It was compiled as part of the international PACIFICA project for synthesizing ocean interior carbon data in the Pacific Ocean.

Use Cases

• Tracing ocean ventilation and water mass age based on CFC-11 and CFC-12 concentrations.
• Studying the marine carbon cycle and biogeochemical processes using nitrate, phosphate, silicate, and dissolved oxygen measurements.
• Calibrating and validating ocean circulation models with high-resolution vertical profiles of salinity and potential temperature (theta).
• Investigating oceanic uptake of anthropogenic tracers using delta Carbon-14, delta Helium-3, and Tritium isotope data.

Strengths

• Includes 15 distinct chemical and physical parameters, providing a multi-faceted view of ocean conditions.
• Data collection is temporally focused on a specific 15-day research cruise (1995-11-15 to 1995-11-30).
• Originates from a recognized international collaborative project (PACIFICA) supported by PICES.

Limitations

• Critical metadata is missing: row count, file size, column names, and specific license are not provided by any source.
• A conflict exists in the 'last updated' metadata, with one source reporting 1995-11-30 and others reporting 2026-03-06.
• The dataset's spatial coverage is limited to a single cruise track in the Philippine Sea.

Provenance

Source

Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) and associated centers; collected by Masahiko Fujimura, Ikuo Kaneko, Kazuhiro Nemoto, and Shu Saito.

Collection Method

Discrete sample and profile observations using CTD and bottle instruments from the R/V RYOFU MARU.

Time Range

1995-11-15 to 1995-11-30

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:14:23.838655

Geography

Philippine Sea, Pacific Ocean