Scripps Data Zoo: Physical Oceanographic Experiments off the California Coast

The Scripps Center for Coastal Studies' Data Zoo aggregates data from over 20 distinct oceanographic studies and programs. It includes the Santa Barbara Channel-Santa Maria Basin Study, the Central and Northern California Circulation Studies, and experiments like CODE, CAMP, and CalCOFI. The collection is hosted on NASA's Earthdata platform.

Use Cases

• Modeling coastal circulation patterns based on data from the Central and Northern California Circulation Studies.
• Analyzing upwelling structures based on data from the Organization of Persistent Upwelling Structures (OPUS) experiment.
• Studying shelf transport dynamics based on data from the Wind Events and Shelf Transport (WEST) program.
• Investigating bathymetry and sea level changes based on California Bathymetry and PSMSL data sources.

Strengths

• Aggregates data from over 20 distinct coastal studies and data-collection programs.
• Focuses on a specific, well-studied geographic region: the California coast.
• Includes long-running monitoring programs like CalCOFI and data from the National Data Buoy Center.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count, file formats, and data size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Scripps Center for Coastal Studies (CCS), part of the Santa Barbara Channel - Santa Maria Basin Study funded by the Minerals Management Service.

Collection Method

Data collected by a variety of California coastal studies and data-collection programs.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated date is unknown.

Geography

California coast, including the Santa Barbara Channel, Santa Maria Basin, and Central/Northern California coastal waters.